r  NATURAL  1 

LAW 
I 

\  SPIRITUAL 
WORLD 


HENRY  DRUMMOND. 


NATURAL    LAW 


SPIRITUAL 
WORLD 


HENRY  DRUMMOND,  F.  R.  S.  E. 


THE  MERSHON  COMPANY 

RAHWAY 


CONTENTS. 


PACK. 

PREFACE 5 

INTRODUCTION 25 

BIOGENESIS 75 

DEGENERATION 107 

GROWTH 131 

DEATH 149 

MORTIFICATION 179 

ETERNAL  LIFE 203 

ENVIRONMENT 247 

CONFORMITY  TO  TYPE 277 

SEMI-PARASITISM 305 

PARASITISM 827 

CLASSIFICATION 851 


PREFACE. 

No  class  of  works  is  received  with  more 
suspicion,  I  had  almost  said  derision,  than 
those  which  deal  with  Science  and  Religion. 
Science  is  tired  of  reconciliations  between  two- 
things  which  never  should  have  been  con- 
trasted ;  Religion  is  offended  by  the  patronage 
of  an  ally  which  it  professes  not  to.  need  ;  and 
the  critics  have  rightly  discovered  that,  in 
most  cases  where  Science  is  either  pitted 
against  Religion  or  fused  with  it,  there  is  some- 
fatal  misconception  to  begin  with  as  to  the 
scope  and  province  of  either.  But  although  no 
initial  protest,  probably,  will  save  this  work 
from  the  unhappy  reputation  of  its  class,  the 
thoughtful  mind  will  perceive  that  the  fact 
of  its  subject-matter  being  Law — a  property 
peculiar  neither  to  Science  nor  to  Religion — at 
once  places  it  on  a  somewhat  different  footing. 

The  real  problem  I  have  set  myself  may  be 
stated  in  a  sentence.  Is  there  not  reason  to 
believe  that  many  of  the  Laws  of  the  Spiritual 
World,  hitherto  regarded  as  occupying  an  en- 
tirely separate  province,  are  simply  the  Laws, 
of  the  Natural  World  ?  Can  we  identify  the 
Natural  Laws,  or  any  one  of  them,  in  tha 


§  PREFACE. 

Spiritual  sphere  ?  That  vague  lines  every, 
where  run  through  the  Spiritual  World  ia 
already  beginning  to  be  recognized.  Is  it  pos- 
sible to  link  them  with  those  great  lines  run- 
ning through  the  visible  universe  which  we  call 
the  Natural  Laws,  or  are  they  fundamentally 
distinct  ?  In  a  word,  Is  the  Supernatural 
natural  or  unnatural  ? 

I  may,  perhaps,  be  allowed  to  answer  these 
questions  in  the  form  in  which  they  have  an- 
swered themselves  to  myself.  And  I  must 
apologize  at  the  outset  for  personal  references 
•which,  but  for  the  clearness  they  may  lend  to 
the  statement,  I  would  surely  avoid. 

It  has  Ijeen  my  privilege  for  some  years  to 
address  regularly  two  very  different  audiences 
on  two  very  different  themes.  On  week  days 
I  have  lectured  to  a  class  of  students  on  the 
Natural  Sciences,  and  on  Sundays  to  an  audi- 
ence consisting  for  the  most  part  of  working 
men  on  subjects  of  a  moral  and  religious  char- 
acter. I  cannot  say  that  this  collocation  ever 
appeared  as  a  difficulty  to  myself,  but  to  certain 
of  my  friends  it  was  more  than  a  problem.  It 
was  solved  to  me,  however,  at  first,  by  what 
then  seemed  the  necessities  of  the  case — I  must 
keep  the  two  departments  entirely  by  them- 
selves. They  lay  at  opposite  poles  of  thought ; 
and  for  a  time  I  succeeded  in  keeping  the 
Science  and  the  Religion  shut  off  from  one 
another  in  two  separate  compartments  of  my 
mind.  But  gradually  the  wall  of  partition 
showed  symptoms  of  giving  way.  The  two 
fountains  of  knowledge  also  slowly  began  to 


PREFACE.  1 

overflow,  and  finally  their  waters  met  and  min- 
gled. The  great  change  was  in  the  compartment 
which  held  the  Religion.  It  was  not  that  the 
well  there  was  dried ;  still  less  that  the  ferment- 
ing waters  were  washed  away  by  the  flood  of 
Science.  The  actual  contents  remained  the 
same.  But  the  crystals  of  former  doctrine  were 
dissolved ;  and  as  they  precipitated  themselves 
once  more  in  definite  forms,  I  observed  that  the 
Crystalline  System  was  changed.  New  chan- 
nels also  for  outward  expression  opened,  and 
some  of  the  old  closed  up ;  and  I  found  the 
truth  running  out  to  my  audience  on  the  Sun- 
days by  the  weekday  outlets.  In  other  words, 
the  subject-matter  Religion  had  taken  on  the 
method  of  expression  of  Science,  and  I  dis- 
covered myself  enunciating  Spiritual  Law  in. 
the  exact  terms  of  Biology  and  Physics. 

Now  this  was  not  simply  a  scientific  color- 
ing given  to  Religion,  the  mere  freshening  of 
the  theological  air  with  natural  facts  and  illus- 
trations. It  was  an  entire  re-casting  of  truth. 
And  when  I  came  seriously  to  consider  what 
it  involved,  I  saw,  or  seemed  to  see,  that  it 
meant  essentially  the  introduction  of  Natural 
Law  into  the  Spiritual  World.  It  was  not,  I 
repeat,  that  new  and  detailed  analogies  of 
Phenomena  rose  into  view — although  material 
for  Parable  lies  unnoticed  and  unused  on  the 
field  of  recent  Science  in  inexhaustible  pro- 
fusion. But  Law  has  a  still  grander  function 
to  discharge  towards  Religion  than  Parable.. 
There  is  a  deeper  unity  between  the  two  King- 
doms than  the  analogy  of  their  Phenomena — a 


8  PREFACE. 

unity  which  the  poet's  vision,  more  quick  than 
the  theologian's,  has  already  dimly  seen : — 

"  And  verily  many  thinkers  of  this  age, 
Aye,  many  Christian  teachers,  half  in  heaven, 
Are  wrong  in  just  my  sense,  who  understood 
Our  natural  world  too  insularly  as  if 
No  spiritual  counterpart  completed  it, 
Consummating  its  meaning,  rounding  all 
To  justice  and  perfection,  line  by  line, 
Form  by  form,  nothing  single  nor  alone, 
The  great  below  clenched  by  the  great  above."  l 

The  function  of  Parable  in  religion  is  to 
^exhibit  "  form  by  form."  Law  undertakes  the 
profoundcr  task  of  comparing  "  line  by  line." 
Thus  Natural  Phenomena  serve  mainly  an 
illustrative  function  in  Religion.  Natural  Law, 
on  the  other  '>and,  could  it  be  traced  in  the 
Spiritual  W<  .'Id,  would  have  an  important 
scientific  value — it  would  offer  Religion  a  new 
credential.  The  effect  of  the  introduction  of 
Law  among  the  scattered  Phenomena  of  Nature 
has  simply  been  to  make  Science,  to  transform 
knowledge  into  eternal  truth.  The  same  crys- 
tallizing touch  is  needed  in  Religion.  Can  it 
be  said  that  the  Phenomena  of  the  Spiritual 
World  are  other  than  scattered?  Can  we  shut 
our  eyes  to  the  fact  that  the  religious  opinions 
of  mankind  are  in  a  state  of  flux  ?  And  when 
we  regard  the  uncertainty  of  current  beliefs, 
the  war  of  creeds,  the  havoc  of  inevitable  as 
well  as  of  idle  doubt,  the  reluctant  abandon- 
ment of  early  faith  by  those  who  would  cherisli 

1  Aurora  Leigh. 


PREFACE.  9 

it  longei  if  they  could,  is  it  not  plain  that  the 
one  thing  thinking  menare  waiting  for  is  the 
introduction  of  Law  among  the  Phenomena  of 
the  Spiritual  World?  When  that  comes  we 
shall  offer  to  such  men  a  truly  scientific  the- 
ology. And  the  Reign  of  Law  will  transform 
the  whole  Spiritual  World  as  it  has  already 
transformed  the  Natural  World. 

I  confess  that  even  when  in  the  first  dim 
vision,  the  organizing  hand  of  Law  moved 
among  the  unordered  truths  of  my  Spiritual 
World,  poor  and  scantily-furnished  as  it  was, 
there  seemed  to  come  over  it  the  beauty  of  a 
transfiguration.  The  change  was  as  great  as 
from  the  old  chaotic  world  of  Pythagoras  to  the 
symmetrical  and  harmonious  universe  of  New- 
ton. My  Spiritual  World  before  was  a  chaos 
of  facts;  my  Theology,  a  Pythagorean  system 
trying  to  make  the  best  of  Phenomena  apart 
from  the  idea  of  Law.  I  make  no  charge 
against  Theology  in  general.  I  speak  of  .my 
own.  And  I  say  that  I  saw  it  to  be  in  many 
essential  respects  centuries  behind  every  de- 
partment of  Science  I  knew.  It  was  the  one 
region  still  unpossessed  by  Law.  I  saw  then 
why  men  of  Science  distrust  Theology ;  why 
those  who  have  learned  to  look  upon  Law  as 
Authority  grow  cold  to  it— it  was  the  Great 
Exception. 

I  have  alluded  to  the  genesis  of  the  idea  in 
my  own  mind  partly  for  another  reason — to 
show  its  naturalness.  Certainly  I  never  pre- 
meditated anything  to  myself  so  objectionable 
and  so  unwarrantable  in  itself,  as  either  to  read 


10  PREFACE. 

Theology  into  Science  or  Science  into  Theology. 
Nothing  could  be  more  artificial  than  to  attempt 
this  on  the  speculative  side  ;  and  it  has  been  a 
substantial  relief  to  me  throughout  that  the 
idea  rose  up  thus  in  the  course  of  practical 
work  and  shaped   itself   day  by  day   uncon- 
sciously.    It  might  be  charged,  nevertheless, 
that  I  was  all  the  time,  whether  consciously  or 
unconsciously,  simply  reading  my  Theology  into 
my  Science.      And  as  this  would  hopelessly 
vitiate  the  conclusions  arrived  at,  I  must  acquit 
myself  at  least  of  the  intention.     Of  nothing 
have  I  been  more  fearful  throughout  than  of 
making  Nature  parallel  with  my  own  or  with 
any  creed.     The  only  legitimate  questions  one 
dare  put  to  Nature  are  those  which  concern 
universal  human  good  and  the  Divine  interpre- 
tation of  things.      These  I  conceive  may  be 
there  actually  studied  at  first-hand,  and  before 
their  purity  is  soiled  by  human  touch.     We 
have  Truth  in  Nature  as  it  came  from  God. 
And  it  has  to  be  read  with  the  same  unbiassed 
mind,  the  same  open  eye,  the  same  faith,  and 
the  same  reverence  as  all  other  Revelation. 
All  that  is  found  there,  whatever  its  place  in 
Theology,  whatever  its  orthodoxy  or  hetero- 
doxy, whatever  its  narrowness  or  its  breadth, 
we  are  bound  to  accept  as  Doctrine  from  which 
on  the  lines  of  Science  there  is  no  escape. 

When  this  presented  itself  to  me  as  a  method, 
I  felt  it  to  be  due  to  it— were  it  only  to  secure, 
so  far  as  that  was  possible,  that  no  former  bias 
should  interfere  with  the  integrity  of  the  result* 
—to  begin  again  at  the  beginning  and  recon- 


PREFACE.  11 

struct  my  Spiritual  World  step  by  step.  The 
result  of  that  inquiry,  so  far  as  its  expression 
in  systematic  form  is  concerned,  I  have  not 
given  in  this  book.  To  reconstruct  a  Spiritual 
Religion,  or  a  department  of  Spiritual  Religion 
— for  this  is  all  the  method  can  pretend  to — on 
the  lines  of  Nature  would  be  an  attempt  from 
which  one  better  equipped  in  both  directions 
might  well  be  pardoned  if  he  shrank.  My 
object  at  present  is  the  hum  ler  one  of  ventur- 
ing a  simple  contribution  to  practical  Religion 
along  the  lines  indicated.  What  Bacon  predi- 
cates of  the  Natural  World,  Natura  enim  non 
nisi  par  endo  vincitur,  is  also  true,  as  Christ  had 
already  told  us,  of  the  Spiri  al  World.  And 
I  present  a  few  samples  *  the  religious  teach- 
ing referred  to  former!  as  having  been  pre- 
pared under  the  infhr  'ce  of  scien':"^  idea?  in 
the  hope  that  they  may  be  usef  7  first  of  all  in 
this  direction. 

I  would,  howf  vor,  v  irefu'ly  poin  out  th  ,t 
though  the.  unsystem  tic  Arrange'"' out  Vnre 
may  create  the  impr  !ou  t  at  hese  papers 
aremerel-  iso1rvte~  readings  in  Religio  pointed 
by  casual  scientifi  ruths,  they  are  •rganically 
connected  b;  a  singl  principle.  Nothing  could 
be  moro  false  both  '  >  Science  and  to  Religion 
than  attemp  to  a^ust  the  two  spheres  by 
making  out  ingenious  poi  -ts  of  contact  in  detail. 
The  solution  of  this  great  question  of  concilia- 
tion, if  one  may  still  refer  to  a  problem  so 
gratuitous,  must  be  general  rather  than  par- 
ticular. The  basis  in  a  common  principle — the 
Continuity  of  Law — can  alone  save  specific 


12  PREFACE. 

applications  from  ranking  as  mere  coincidences, 
or  exempt  them  from  the  reproach  of  being  a 
hybrid  between  two  things  which  must  be 
related  by  the  deepest  affinities  or  remain  for- 
ever separate. 

To  the  objection  that  even  a  basis  in  Law  is 
no  warrant  for  so  great  a  trespass  as  the  in- 
trusion into  another  field  of  thought  of  the 
principles  of  Natural  Science,  I  would  reply 
that  in  this  I  find  I  am  following  a  lead  which 
in  other  departments  has  not  only  been  al- 
lowed bu  has  achieved  results  as  rich  as  they 
were  unexpected.  What  is  the  Physical 
Politic  of  Mr.  Walter  Bagehot  but  the  ten- 
sion of  ATatural  Law  to  the  Political  World  ? 
What  is  fie  Biological  Sociology  of  Mr. 
Herbert  Spencer,  but  the  application  of  Nat- 
ural Law  to  the  Social  World?  Will  it  be 
charged  tha  the  splendid  achievements  of 
such  think  rs  are  hybrids  between  things 
which  Nature  has  meant  to  remain  apart  ? 
Nature  usually  solves  such  problems  for  her- 
self. Inappropriate  hybridism  is  check'ed  by 
the  Law  of  Sterility.  Judged  by  this  great 
Law,  these  modern  developments  of  our  knowl- 
edge stand  uncondemned.  Within  their  own 
sphere  the  results  of  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  are 
far  from  sterile — the  application  of  Biology  to 
Political  Economy  is  already  revolutionizing 
the  Science.  If  the  introduction  of  Natural 
Law  into  the  Social  sphere  is  no  violent  con- 
tradiction, but  a  genuine  and  permanent  con- 
tribution, shall  its  further  extension  to  the 
Spiritual  sphere  be  counted  an  extravagance! 


PREFACE.  18 

Does  not  the  principle  of  Continuity  demand  its 
application  in  every  direction  ?  To  carry  it  as  a 
working  principle  into  so  lofty  a  region  may 
appear  impracticable.  Difficulties  lie  on  the 
threshold  which  may  seem,  at  first  sight,  insur- 
mountable. But  obstacles  to  a  true  method 
only  test  its  validity.  And  he  who  honestly 
faces  the  task  may  find  relief  in  feeling  that 
whatever  else  of  crudeness  and  imperfection 
niar  it,  the  attempt  is  at  least  in  harmony 
with  the  thought  and  movement  of  his  time. 

That  these  papers  were  not  designed  to  ap- 
pear in  a  collective  form,  or  indeed  to  court 
the  more  public  light  at  all,  needs  no  dis- 
closure. They  are  published  out  of  regard  to 
the  wish  of  known  and  unknown  friends  by 
whom,  when  in  a  fugitive  form,  they  were  re- 
ceived with  so  curious  an  interest  as  to  make 
one  feel  already  that  there  are  minds  which 
such  forms  of  truth  may  touch.  In  making 
the  present  selection,  partly  from  manuscript, 
and  partly  from  articles  already  published,  I 
have  been  guided  less  by  the  wish  to  constitute 
the  papers  a  connected  series  than  to  exhibit 
the  application  of  the  principle  in  various 
direction.  They  will  be  found,  therefore,  of 
unequal  interest  and  value,  according  to  the 
standpoint  from  which  they  are  regarded. 
Thus  some  are  designed  with  a  directly  prac- 
tical and  popular  bearing,  others  being  more 
expository,  and  slightly  apologetic  in  tone. 
The  risk  of  combining  two  objects  so  very 
different  is  somewhat  serious.  But,  for  the 
reason  named,  having  taken  this  responsibility; 


14  PREFACE. 

the  only  compensation  I  can  offer  is  to 
indicate  which  of  the  papers  incline  to  the 
one  side  or  to  the  other.  "  Degeneration," 
"Growth,"  "Mortification,"  "Conformity  to 
Type,"  "  Semi-Parasitism,"  and  "  Parasitism  " 
belong  to  the  more  practical  order ;  and  while 
one  or  two  are  intermediate,  "  Biogenesis," 
"  Death,"  and  "  Eternal-Life !  "  may  be  offered 
to  those  who  find  the  atmosphere  of  the  former 
uncongenial.  It  will  not  disguise  itself,  how- 
ever, that,  owing  to  the  circumstances  in  which 
they  were  prepared,  all  the  papers  are  more 
or  less  practical  in  their  aim ;  so  that  to  the 
merely  philosophical  reader  there  is  little  to 
be  offered  except — and  that  only  with  the 
greatest  diffidence — the  Introductory  chapter. 
In  the  Introduction,  which  the  general  read- 
er may  do  well  to  ignore,  I  have  briefly  stated 
the  case  for  Natural  Law  in  the  Spiritual 
World.  The  extension  of  Analogy  to  Laws, 
or  rather  the  extension  of  the  Laws  them- 
selves, so  far  as  known  to  me,  is  new ;  and  I 
cannot  hope  to  have  escaped  the  mistakes  and 
misadventures  of  a  first  exploration  in  an  un- 
surveyed  land.  So  general  has  been  the  sur- 
vey that  I  have  not  even  paused  to  define 
specifically  to  what  departments  of  the  Spir- 
itual World  exclusively  the  principle  is  to  be 
applied.  The  danger  of  making  a  new  princi- 
ple apply  too  widely  inculcates  here  the  utmost 
caution.  One  thing  is  certain,  and  I  state  it 
pointedly,  the  application  of  Natural  Law  to 
the  Spiritual  World  has  decided  and  neces- 
gary  limits.  And  if  elsewhere  with  undue 


PREFACE.  if) 

enthusiasm  I  seem  to  magnify  the  principle  at 
•stake,  the  exaggeration — like  the  extreme  am- 
pliflcation  of  the  moon's  disk  when  near  the 
horizon — must  be  charged  to  that  almost  nec- 
essary aberration  of  light  which  distorts  every 
new  idea  while  it  is  yet  slowly  climbing  to  its 
zenith. 

In  what  follows  the  Introduction,  except  in 
the  setting,  there  is  nothing  new.  I  trust 
there  is  nothing  new.  When  I  began  to  fol- 
low out  these  lines,  I  had  no  idea  where  they 
would  lead  me.  I  was  prepared,  nevertheless, 
at  least  for  the  time,  to  be  loyal  to  the  method 
throughout,  and  share  with  Nature  whatever 
consequences  might  ensue.  But  in  almost 
every  case,  after  stating  what  appeared  to  be 
the  truth  in  words  gathered  directly  from  the 
lips  of  Nature,  I  was  sooner  or  later  startled 
by  a  certain  similarity  in  the  general  idea  to 
something  I  had  heard  before,  and  this  often 
developed  in  a  moment,  and  when  I  was  least 
expecting  it,  into  recognition  of  some  familiar 
article  of  faith.  I  was  not  watching  for  this 
result.  I  did  not  begin  by  tabulating  the  doc- 
trines, as  I  did  the  Laws  of  Nature,  and  then 
proceed  with  the  attempt  to  pair  them.  The 
majority  of  them  seemed  at  first  too  far  removed 
from  the  natural  world  even  to  suggest  this. 
Still  less  did  I  begin  with  doctrines  and  work 
downwards  to  find  their  relations  in  the  nat- 
ural sphere.  It  was  the  opposite  process  en- 
tirely. I  ran  up  the  Natural  Law  as  far  as  it 
it  would  go,  and  the  appropriate  doctrine  sel- 
dom even  loomed  in  sight  till  1  had  reached 


16  PREFACE. 

the  top.    Then  it  burst  into  view  in  a  single 
moment. 

I  can  scarcely  now  say  whether  in  those 
moments  I  was  more  overcome  with  thankful- 
ness that  Nature  was  so  like  Revelation,  or 
more  filled  with  wonder  that  Revelation  was 
so  like  Nature.  Nature,  it  is  true,  is  a  part  of 
Revelation — a  much  greater  part  doubtless  than 
is  yet  believed — and  one  could  have  anticipated 
nothing  but  harmony  here.  But  that  a  de- 
rived Theology,  in  spite  of  the  venerable 
verbiage  which  has  gathered  round  it,  should 
be  at  bottom  and  in  all  cardinal  respects  so 
faithful  a  transcript  of  "  the  truth  as  it  is  in 
Nature  "  came  as  a  surprise,  and  to  me  at  least 
as  a  rebuke.  How,  under  the  rigid  necessity 
of  incorporating  in  its  system  much  that 
seemed  nearly  unintelligible,  and  much  that 
was  barely  credible,  Theology  has  succeeded 
so  perfectly  in  adhering  through  good  report 
and  ill  to  what  in  the  main  are  truly  ih&  lines 
of  Nature,  awakens  a  new  admiration  for  those 
who  constructed  and  kept  this  faith.  But 
however  nobly  it  has  held  its  ground,  The- 
ology must  feel  to-day  that  the  modern  world 
calls  for  a  further  proof.  Nor  will  the  best 
Theology  resent  this  demand  ;  it  also  demands 
it.  Theology  is  searching  on  every  hand  for 
another  echo  of  the  Voice  of  which  Revelation 
also  is  the  echo,  that  out  of  the  mouths  of  two 
witnesses  its  truths  should  be  established. 
That  other  echo  can  only  come  from  Nature. 
Hitherto  its  voice  has  been  muffled.  But  no"W 
that  Science  has  made  the  world  around  articu? 


PREFACE.  17 

late,  it  speaks  to  Religion  with  a  twofold  pur- 
pose.  In  the  first  place  it  offers  to  corroborate 
Theology,  in  the  second,  to  purify  it. 

If  the  removal  of  suspicion  from  Theology 
is  of  urgent  moment,  not  less  important  is  the 
removal  of  its  adulterations.  These  suspicions, 
many  of  them  at  least,  are  new;  in  a  sense 
they  mark  progress.  But  the  adulterations 
are  the  artificial  accumulations  of  centuries  of 
uncontrolled  speculation.  They  are  the  neces- 
sary result  of  the  old  method  and  the  warrant 
for  its  revision — they  mark  the  impossibility 
of  progress  without  the  guiding  and  restrain- 
ing hand  of  Law.  The  felt  exhaustion  of  the 
former  method,  the  want  of  corroboration  for 
the  old  evidence,  the  protest  of  reason  against 
the  monstrous  overgrowths  which  conceal  the 
real  lines  of  truth,  these  summon  us  to  the 
search  for  a  surer  and  more  scientific  system. 
With  truths  of  the  theological  order,  with 
dogmas  which  often  depend  for  their  existence 
on  a  particular  exegesis,  with  propositions 
which  rest  for  their  evidence  upon  a  balance 
of  probabilities,  or  upon  the  weight  of  author- 
ity ;  with  doctrines  which  every  age  and 
nation  may  make  or  unmake,  which  each  sect 
may  tamper  with,  and  which  even  the  individ- 
ual may  modify  for  himself,  a  second  court 
of  appeal  has  become  an  imperative  necessity. 

Science,  therefore,  may  yet  have  to  be  called 
upon  to  arbitrate  at  some  points  between  con- 
flicting creeds.  And  while  there  are  some 
departments  ot  Theology  where  its  jurisdiction 
cannot  be  sought,  there  are  others  in  whiob 
2 


18  PREFACE. 

Nature  may  yet  have  to  define  the  contents  as 
well  as  the  limits  of  belief. 

W  hat  I  would  desire  especially  is  a  thought- 
ful consideration  of  the  method.  The  appli- 
cations ventured  upon  here  may  be  successful 
or  unsuccessful.  But  they  would  more  than 
satisfy  me  if  they  suggested  a  method  to  others 
whose  less  clumsy  hands  might  work  it  out 
more  profitably.  For  I  am  convinced  of  the 
fertility  of  such  a  method  at  the  present  time. 
It  is  recognized  by  all  that  the  younger  and 
abler  minds  of  this  age  find  the  most  serious 
difficulty  in  accepting  or  retaining  the  ordinary 
forms  of  belief.  Especially  is  this  true  of 
those  whose  culture  is  scientific.  And  the 
reason  is  palpable.  No  man  can  study  modern 
Science  without  a  change  coming  over  his  view 
of  truth.  What  impresses  him  about  Nature 
is  its  solidity.  He  is  there  standing  upon 
actual  things,  among  fixed  laws.  And  the 
integrity  of  the  scientific  method  so  seizes  him 
that  all  other  forms  of  truth  begin  to  appear 
comparatively  unstable.  He  did  not  know 
before  that  any  form  of  truth  could  so  hold 
him ;  and  the  immediate  effect  is  to  lessen  his 
interest  in  all  that  stands  on  other  bases.  This 
he  feels  in  spite  of  himself;  he  struggles 
against  it  in  vain ;  and  he  finds  perhaps  to  his 
alarm  that  he  is  drifting  fast  into  what  looks 
at  first  like  pure  Positivism.  This  is  an  in- 
evitable  result  of  the  scientific  training.  It  is 
quite  erroneous  to  suppose  that  science  ever 
overthrows  Faith,  if  by  that  is  implied  that 
any  natural  truth  can  oppose  successfully  any 


PREFACE.  19 

single  spiritual  truth.  Science  cannot  over, 
throw  Faith ;  but  it  shakes  it.  Its  own  doc- 
trines, grounded  in  Nature,  are  so  certain, 
that  the  truths  of  Religion,  resting  to  most  men 
on  Authority,  are  felt  to  be  strangely  insecure. 
The  difficulty,  therefore,  which  men  of  Science 
feel  about  Religion  is  real  and  inevitable,  and 
in  so  far  as  Doubt  is  a  conscientious  tribute  to 
the  inviolability  of  Nature  it  is  entitled  to 
respect. 

None  but  those  who  have  passed  through  it 
can  appreciate  the  radical  nature  of  the  change 
wrought  by  Science  in  the  whole  mental  atti- 
tude of  its  disciples.  What  they  really  cry 
out  for  in  Religion  is  a  new  standpoint — a 
standpoint  like  their  own.  The  one  hope, 
therefore,  for  Science  is  more  Science.  Again, 
to  quote  Bacon — we  shall  hear  enough  from 
the  moderns  by  and  by — "  This  I  dare  affirm 
in  knowledge  of  Nature,  that  a  little  natural 
philosophy,  and  the  first  entrance  into  it,  doth 
dispose  the  opinion  to  atheism ;  but,  on  the 
other  side,  much  natural  philosophy,  and  wad- 
ing deep  into  it,  will  bring  about  men's  minds 
to  religion."  1 

The  application  ofsimilia  similibus  curanlur 
was  never  more  in  point.  If  this  is  a  disease, 
it  is  the  disease  of  Nature,  and  the  cure  is 
more  Nature.  For  what  is  this  disquiet  in 
the  breasts  of  men,  but  the  loyal  fear  that 
Nature  is  being  violated  ?  Men  must  oppose 
with  every  energy  they  possess  what  seems  to 

1 "  Meditatioues  Sacrse,"x. 


20  P 'HE FACE. 

them  to  oppose  the  eternal  course  of  things. 
Arid  the  first  step  in  their  deliverance  must  be 
not  to  u  reconcile  "  Nature  and  Religion,  but 
to  exhibit  Nature  in  Religion.  Even  to  con- 
vince them  that  there  is  no  controversy  be- 
tween Religion  and  Science  is  insufficient.  A 
mere  flag  of  truce,  in  the  nature  of  the  case, 
is  here  impossible  ;  at  least,  it  is  only  possible 
so  long  as  neither  party  is  sincere.  No  man 
who  knows  the  splendor  of  scientific  achieve- 
ment or  cares  for  it,  no  man  who  feels  the 
solidity  of  its  method  or  works  with  it,  can 
remain  neutral  with  regard  to  Religion.  He 
must  either  extend  his  method  into  it,  or,  if 
that  is  impossible,  oppose  it  to  the  knife.  On 
the  other  hand,  no  one  who  knows  the  con- 
tent of  Christianity,  or  feels  the  universal 
need  of  a  Religion,  can  stand  idly  by  while 
the  intellect  of  his  age  is  slowly  divorcing  it- 
self from  it.  What  is  required,  therefore,  to 
draw  Science  and  Religion  tog  ther  again — 
for  they  began  the  centuries  hand  in  hand — is 
the  disclosure  of  the  naturalness  of  the  super- 
natural. Then,  and  not  till  then,  will  men  see 
how  true  it  is,  that  to  be  loyal  to  all  of  Nature, 
they  must  be  loyal  to  the  part  defined  as  Spir- 
itual. No  science  contributes  to  another  with- 
out receiving  a  reciprocal  benefit.  And  even 
as  the  contribution  of  Science  to  Religion  is 
the  vindication  of  the  naturalness  of  the  Super- 
natural, so  the  gift  of  Religion  to  Science  is 
the  demonstration  of  the  supenmturalness  .of 
the  Natural.  Tims,  as  the  Supernatural  be- 
comes slowly  Natural,  will  also  the  Natural 


PREFACE.  21 

become  slowly  Supernatural,  until  in  the  im- 
personal authority  of  Law  men  everywhere 
recognize  the  Authority  of  God. 

To  those  who  already  find  themselves  fully 
nourished  on  the  older  forms  of  truth,  I  do 
not  commend  these  pages.  They  will  find 
them  superfluous.  Nor  is  there  any  reason 
why  they  should  mingle  with  light  which  it 
already  clear  the  distorting  rays  of  a  foreign 
expression. 

But  to  those  who  are  feeling  their  way  to  a 
Christian  life,  haunted  now  by  a  sense  of  in- 
stability in  the  foundations  of  their  faith,  now 
brought  to  bay  by  specific  doubt  at  one  point 
raising,  as  all  doubt  does,  the  question  for  the 
whole,  I  would  hold  up  a  light  which  has 
often  been  kind  to  me.  There  is  a  sense  of 
solidity  about  a  Law  of  Nature  which  belongs 
to  nothing  else  in  the  world.  Here,  at  last, 
amid  all  that  is  shifting,  is  one  thing  sure; 
one  thing  outside  ourselves,  unbiassed,  unprej- 
udiced, uninfluenced  by  like  or  dislike,  by 
doubt  or  fear;  one  thing  that  holds  on  its 
way  to  me  eternally,  incorruptible,  and  unde- 
filed.  This,  more  than  anything  else,  makes 
one  eager  to  see  the  Reign  of  Law  traced  in  the 
Spiritual  Sphere.  And  should  this  seem  to 
some  to  offer  only  a  surer,  but  not  a  higher 
Faith  ;  should  the  better  ordering  of  the  Spir- 
itual World  appear  to  satisfy  the  intellect  at 
the  sacrifice  of  reverence,  simplicity,  or  love ; 
especially  should  it  seem  to  substitute  a  Reign 
of  Law  and  a  Lawgiver  for  a  Kingdom  of 


22  PREFACE. 

Grace  and  a  Personal  God,  I  will  say,  with 
Browning, — 

"  I  spoke  as  I  saw. 
I  report,  as  a  man  may  of  God's  work — alVs  Love,  yet 

air  s  Law. 
Now  I  lay  down  the  judgeship  He  lent  me.     Each 

faculty  tasked, 
To  perceive  Him,  has  gained  an  abyss  where  a  dewdrop 

was  asked." 


ANALYSIS  OF  INTRODUCTION. 


[For  the  sake  of  the  general  reader  who  may  desire  to 

Cs  at  once  to  the  practical  application,  the  following  out- 
i  of  the  Introduction — devoted  rather  to  general  principles 
—is  here  presented.] 

PAET  I. 

NATURAL  LAW  IN  THE  SPIRITUAL  SPHERE. 

1.  The  growth  of  the  Idea  of  Law. 

2.  Its  gradual  extension  throughout  every  department  of 

Knowledge. 

3.  Except  one.     Keligion  hitherto  the  Great  Exception. 

Why  so  ? 

4.  Previous  attempts  to   trace   analogies  between   the 

Natural  and  Spiritual  spheres.  These  have  been 
limited  to  analogies  between  Phenomena ;  and  are 
useful  mainly  as  illustrations.  Analogies  of  Law 
would  also  have  a  Scientific  value. 
6.  Wherein  that  value  would  consist.  (1)  The  Scienti- 
fic demand  of  the  age  would  be  met ;  (2)  Greater 
clearness  would  be  introduced  into  Religion  prac- 
tically ;  (3)  Theology,  instead  of  resting  on  Au- 
thority, would  rest  equally  on  Nature. 

PAET  II. 
THE  LAW  OF  CONTINUITY. 

A  priori  argument  for  Natural  Law  in  the  Spiritual 
World. 

1.  The  Law  Discovered. 

2.  "       Defined. 

3.  "       Applied. 

4.  The  objection  answered  that  the  material  of  the  Na- 

tural and  Spiritual  worlds  being   different  they 
must  be  under  different  Laws. 

5.  The  existence  of  Laws  in  the  Spiritual  World  other 

than  the  Natural  Laws  (1)  improbable,  (2)  unnec- 
essary, (3)  unknown.     Qualification. 

6.  The  Spiritual  not  the  projection  upwards  of  the  Na- 

tural ;  but  the  Natural  the  projection  downwards 
of  the  Spiritual. 


"This  method  turns  aside  from  hypotheses  not  to  be 
tested  by  any  known  logical  canon  familiar  to  science, 
wheither  the  hypothesis  claims  support  from  intuition, 
aspiration  or  general  plausibility.  And,  again,  this 
method  turns  aside  from  ideal  standards  which  avow 
themselves  to  be  lawless,  which  profess  to  transcend 
the  field  of  law.  We  say,  life  and  conduct  shall  stand 
for  us  wholly  on  a  basis  of  law,  and  must  rest  en- 
tirely in  that  region  of  science  (not  physical,  but 
moral  and  social  science),  where  we  are  free  to  use  our 
intelligence  in  the  methods  known  to  us  as  intelligible 
loyic,  methods  which  the  intellect  can  analyze.  When 
you  confront  us  with  hypotheses,  however  sublime  and 
however  affecting,  if  they  cannot  be  stated  in  terms 
of  the  rest  of  our  knowledge,  if  they  are  disparate  to 
that  world  of  sequence  and  sensation  which  to  us  is 
the  ultimate  base  of  all  our  real  knowledge,  then  we 
shake  our  heads  and  turn  aside." 

FREDERICK  HARRISON. 


INTRODUCTION. 

"  Ethical  science  is  already  forever  completed,  so  far 
as  her  general  outline  and  main  principles  are  concerned, 
and  has  been,  as  it  were,  waiting  for  physical  science  to 
come  up  with  her." — Paradoxical  Philosophy. 

I. 

NATURAL  Law  is  a  new  word.  It  is  the  last 
and  the  most  magnificent  discovery  of  science. 
No  more  telling  proof  is  open  to  the  modem 
world  of  the  greatness  of  the  idea  than  the 
greatness  of  the  attempts  which  have  always 
been  made  to  justify  it.  In  the  earlier  cent- 
uries, before  the  birth  of  science,  Phenomena 
were  studied  alone.  The  world  then  was  a 
chaos,  a  collection  of  single,  isolated,  and  inde- 
pendent facts.  Deeper  thinkers  saw,  indeed, 
that  relations  must  subsist  between  these 
facts,  but  the  Reign  of  Law  was  never  more  to 
the  ancients  than  a  far-off  vision.  Their  phi- 
losophies, conspicuously  those  of  the  Stoics  and 
Pythagoreans,  heroically  sought  to  marshal 
the  discrete  materials  of  the  universe  into 
thinkable  form,  but  from  these  artificial  and 
fantastic  systems  nothing  remains  to  us  now 


26  IN  TROD  UCTION. 

but  an  ancient  testimony  to  the  grandeur  oi 
that  harmony  which  they  failed  to  reach. 

With  Copernicus,  Galileo,  and  Kepler,  the 
first  regular  lines  of  the  universe  began  to  be 
discerned.  When  Nature  yielded  to  Newton 
her  great  secret,  Gravitation  was  felt  to  be 
not  greater  as  a  fact  in  itself  than  as  a  revela- 
tion that  Law  was  fact.  And  thenceforth  the 
search  for  individual  Phenomena  gave  way 
before  the  larger  stud}'  of  their  relations.  The 
pursuit  of  Law  became  the  passion  of  science. 

What  that  discovery  of  Law  has  done  for 
Nature,  it  is  impossible  to  estimate.  As  a 
mere  spectacle  the  universe  to-day  discloses  a 
beauty  so  transcendent  that  he  who  disciplines 
himself  by  scientific  work  finds  it  an  over- 
whelming reward  simply  to  behold  it.  In 
these  Laws  one  stands  face  to  face  with  truth, 
solid  and  unchangeable.  Each  single  Law  is. 
an  instrument  of  scientific  research,  simple  in 
its  adjustments,  universal  in  its  applications, 
infallible  in  its  results.  And  despite  the  limit- 
ations of  its  sphere  on  every  side  Law  is  still 
the  largest,  richest,  and  surest  source  of 
human  knowledge. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  the  present  to  more 
than  lightly  touch  on  definitions  of  Natural 
Law.  The  Duke  of  Argyll J  indicates  five 
senses  in  which  the  word  is  used,  but  we  may 
content  ourselves  here  by  taking  it  in  its  most 
simple  and  obvious  significance.  The  funda- 
mental conception  of  Law  is  an  ascertained 

*"  Reign  of  Law,"  chap.  ii. 


INTRODUCTION.  27 

working  sequence  of  constant  order  among  the 
Phenomena  of  Nature.  This  impression  of 
Law  as  order  it  is  important  to  receive  in  its 
simplicity,  for  the  idea  is  often  corrupted  by 
.having  attached  to  it  erroneous  views  of  cause 
iind  effect.  In  its  true  sense  Natural  Law 
predicates  nothing  of  causes.  The  Laws  of 
Nature  are  simply  statements  of  the  orderly 
condition  of  things  in  Nature,  what  is  found 
in  Nature  by  a  sufficient  number  of  competent 
observers.  What  these  Laws  are  in  them- 
selves is  not  agreed.  That  they  have  any 
absolute  existence  even  is  far  from  certain. 
They  are  relative  to  man  in  his  many  limita- 
tions, and  represent  for  him  the  constant  ex- 
pression of  what  he  may  always  expect  to  find 
in  the  world  around  him.  But  that  they  have 
any  causal  connection  with  the  things  around 
him  is  not  t  be  conceived.  The  Natural  Laws 
originate  nothing,  sustain  nothing-  they  are 
merely  responsible  for  uniformity  in  sustain- 
in  what  has  been  originated  and  what  is  be- 
ing sustained.  Th  y  are  modes  of  operation, 
therefore,  not  operators  ;  processes  not  powers. 
The  Law  of  Gravitation  f  r  instance,  speaks 
to  science  only  of  process.  It  has  no  light 
to  offer  as  to  itself.  Newton  did  not  discover 
Gravity — that  is  not  discovered  yet.  He  dis- 
covered its  Law,  which  is  Gravitation,  but 
that  tells  us  nothing  of  its  origin,  of  its 
nature,  or  of  its  cause. 

The  Natural  Laws  then  are  great  lines  run- 
ning not  only  through  the  world,  but,  as  we 
now  know,  through  the  universe,  reducing  it 


28  INTRODUCTION. 

like  parallels  of  latitud^  to  intelligent  order. 
In  themselves,  be  it  •>]  ^o  more  repeated,  t  .ej 
may  have  no  more  absolute  existence  than  par- 
allels of  latitude.  But  they  exis^  ior  u.~ 
They  are  drawn  for  us  to  understand  the  part 
by  some  Hand  that  drew  the  whole  r  so  draw:;, 
perhaps,  that,  understanding  the  part,  we  too 
in  time  may  learn  to  understand  the  whole^ 
Now  the  inquiry  we  propose  to  ourselves  re- 
solves into  the  simple  qi  estion,  Do  these  lin: . 
stop  with  what  we  call  the  Natural  sphere . 
Is  it  not  possible  that  they  may  lead  further? 
Is  it  probable  that  the  Hand  which  ruled 
them  gave  up  the  work  where  most  of  all  they 
were  required?  Did  that  Hand  divide  the 
world  into  two,  a  cosmos  and  a  chaos,  the 
higher  being  the  ch.;os  ?  With  Nature  as  the 
symbol  of  all  of  harmony  and  beauty  that  is 
known  to  man,  must  we  still  talk  of  the  super- 
natural, not  as  a  convenient  word,  but  as  a 
different  order  of  world,  an  unintelligible 
world,  where  the  Reign  of  Mystery  supersedes 
the  Reign  of  Law  ? 

This  question,  let  it  be  carefully  observed, 
applies  to  Laws  not  to  Phenomena.  That  the 
Phenomena  of  the  Spiritual  World  are  in 
analogy  with  the  Phenomena  of  the  Natural 
World  requires  no  restatement.  Since  Plato 
enunciated  his  doctrine  of  the  Cave  or  of  the 
twice-divided  line  ;  since  Christ  spake  in  para- 
bles ;  since  Plotinus  wrote  of  the  world  as  an 
imaged  image  ;  since  the  mysticism  of  Sweden- 
bo  rg  ;  since  Bacon  and  Pascal ;  since  "  Sartor 
Resartus,"  and  "  In  Memoriam,"  it  has  been 


INTRODUCTION.  29 

all  but  a  commonplace  with  "hinkers  that  "  the 
invisible  things  of  God  from  the  creation  of 
the  world  are  clearly  seen,  being  understood 
by  the  things  that  are  made."  Milton's  ques- 
tion— 

"  What  if  earth 

Be  but  the  shadow  of  heaven,  and  things   herein 
Each  to  other  like  more  than  on  earth  is  thought  ?  " 

is  now  superfluous.  "  In  our  doctrine  of 
representations  and  correspondences,"  says 
Swedenborg,  "we  shall  treat  of  both  these 
symbolical  and  typical  resemblances,  and  of 
the  astonishing  things  that  occur,  I  Jl  not 
say  in  the  living  body  o;  'y,  but  throug"  ut 
Nature,  and  which  correspond  so  entirely  to 
supreme  and  spiritual  things,  that  one  would 
swear  that  the  physical  world  was  purely  sym- 
bolical of  the  spiritual  world."  *  And  Carlyle: 
"All  visible  things  are  emblems.  What  thou 
seest  is  not  there  on  its  own  account ;  strictly 
speaking,  is  not  there  at  all.  Matter  exists 
only  spiritually,  and  to  represent  some  idea 
and  body  it  forth."2 

But  the  analogies  of  Law  are  a  totally  dif- 
ferent thing  from  the  analogies  of  Phenomena 
and  have  a  very  different  value.  To  say 
generally,  with  Pascal,  that  "La  nature  est 
line  image  de  la  grace,"  is  merely  to  be  poeti- 
cal. The  function  of  Hervey's  "  Meditations 
in  a  Flower  Garden,"  or,  FlavePs  "  Husbandry 
Spiritualized,"  is  mainly  honnletical.  That 

1 "  Animal  Kingdom." 

a  "  Sartor  Resartus,"  1858  ed.,  p.  48, 


80  INTRODUCTION. 

such  works  have  an  interest  is  not  to  be  denied. 
The  place  of  parable  in  teaching,  and  especially 
"ftcr  the  sanction  of  the  greatest  of  Teachers., 
must  always  be  recognized.  The  very  necessi- 
ties of  language  indeed  demand  this  method  of 
presenting  truth.  The  temporal  is  the  husk 
and  framework  of  the  eternal,  and  thoughts, 
can  be  uttered  only  through  things.1 

But  analogies  between  Phenomena  bear 
the  same  relation  to  analogies  of  Law  that 
Phenomena  themselves  bear  to  Law.  The 
light  of  Law  on  truth,  as  we  have  seen,  is  an 
immense  advance  upon  the  light  of  Phenomena, 
The  discovery  of  Law  is  simply  the  discovery 
of  Science.  And  if  the  analogies  of  Natural 
Law  can  be  extended  to  the  Spiritual  World, 
that  whole  region  at  once  falls  within  the 
domain  of  science  and  secures  a  basis  as  well 

1  Even  parable,  however,  has  always  been  considered 
to  have  attached  to  it  a  measure  of  evidential  as  well  as 
of  illustrative  value.  Thus:  "  The  parable  or  other 
analogy  to  spiritual  truth  appropriated  from  the  world 
of  nature  or  man,  is  not  merely  ustrative,  but  also  in 
some  sort  proof.  It  is  not  merely  that  these  analogies 
assist  to  make  the  truth  inte  ib~  or,  if  intelligible 
before,  present  it  more  vivi  y  to  the  mind,  which  is  all 
that  some  will  allow  them.  Their  power  lies  deeper 
than  this,  in  the  harmony  unconsciously  felt  by  all  men, 
and  which  all  deeper  min  's  have  delighted  to  trace,, 
between  the  natural  and  spiritual  worlds,  so  that  analo- 
gies from  the  first  are  felt  to  be  something  more  than 
illustrations  happily  but  yet  arbitrarily  chosen.  They 
are  arguments,  and  may  be  alleged  as  witnesses  ;  the 
world  of  nature  being  throughout  a  witness  for  the  world 
of  spirit,  proceeding  from  the  same  hand,  growing  out 
of  the  same  root,  and  being  constituted  for  that  very 
end."  (Archbishop  Trench:  "Parables,"  pp.  12,13.) 


INTRODUCTION.  31 

as  an  illumination  in  the  constitution  and 
course  of  Nature.  All,  therefore,  that  has 
been  claimed  for  parable  can  be  predicated  d 
fortiori  of  this — with  the  addition  that  a  proof 
on  the  basis  of  Law  would  want  no  criterion 
possessed  by  the  most  advanced  science. 

That  the  validity  of  analogy  generally  has 
been  seriously  questioned  one  must  frankly 
own.  Doubtless  there  is  much  difficulty  and 
even  liability  to  gross  error  in  attempting  to 
establish  analogy  in  specific  cases.  The  value 
of  the  likeness  appears  differently  to  different 
minds,  and  in  discussing  an  individual  instance 
questions  of  relevancy  will  invariably  crop  up. 
Of  course,  in  the  language  of  John  Stuart  Mill, 
*'  when  the  analogy  can  be  proved,  the  argu- 
ment founded  upon  it  cannot  be  resisted."  l 
But  so  jreat  is  the  difficulty  of  proof  that 
many  are  compalled  to  attach  the  most  inferior 
weight  to  analogy  as  a  method  of  reasoning. 
*'  Analogical  evidence  i.  generally  more  success- 
ful in  silencing  objections  than  in  evincing 
truth.  Though  it  rarely  refutes  it  frequently 
repels  refutation;  like  those  weapons  whick 
though  they  cannot  kill  the  enemy,  will  ward 
his  blows.  .  .  It  must  be  allowed  that  ana- 
logical evidence  is  at  least  but  a  feeble  sup- 
port, and  is  hardly  ever  honored  with  the 
name  of  proof."2  Other  authorities  on  the 
other  hand,  such  as  Sir  William  Hamilton, 
admit  analogy  to  a  primary  place  in  logic  and 
regard  it  as  the  very  basis  of  induction. 

1  Mill's  "  Logic,"  vol.  ii.  p.  96. 

2 Campbell's  "Rhetoric,"  vol.  i.  p.  114. 


32  INTRODUCTION. 

But,  fortunately,  we  are  spared  all  discus- 
sion on  this  worn  subject,  for  two  cogent  rea- 
sons. For  one  thing,  we  do  not  demand  of 
Nature  directly  to  prove  Religion.  That  was 
never  its  function.  Its  function  is  to  interpret. 
And  this,  after  all,  is  possibly  the  most  fruit- 
ful proof.  The  best  proof  of  a  thing  is  that 
we  see  it ;  if  we  do  not  see  it,  perhaps  proof 
will  not  convince  us  of  it.  It  is  the  want  of 
the  discerning  faculty,  the  clairvoyant  power 
of  seeing  the  eternal  in  the  temporal,  rather 
than  the  failure  of  the  reason,  that  begets  the 
sceptic.  But  secondly,  and  more  particularly, 
a  significant  circumstance  has  to  be  taken  into 
account,  which,  though  it  will  appear  more 
clearly  afterwards,  may  be  stated  here  at  once. 
The  position  we  have  been  led  to  take  up  is  not 
that  the  Spiritual  Laws  are  analogous  to  the 
Natural  Laws,  but  that  they  are  the  same  Laws. 
It  is  not  a  question  of  analogy  but  of  Identity. 
The  Natural  Laws  are  not  the  shadows  or 
images  of  the  Spiritual  in  the  same  sense  as 
autumn  is  emblematical  of  Decay,  or  the  fall- 
ing leaf  of  Death  The  Natural  Laws,  as  the 
Law  of  Continuity  might  well  warn  us,  do  not 
stop  with  the  visible  and  then  give  place  to  a 
new  set  of  Laws  bearing  a  strong  similitude  to 
them.  The  Laws  of  the  invisible  are  the  same 
Laws,  projections  of  the  natural  not  supernat- 
ural. Analogous  Phenomena  are  not  the  fruit 
of  parallel  Laws,  but  of  the  same  Laws — Laws 
which  at  one  end,  as  it  were,  may  be  dealing 
with.  Matter,  at  the  other  end  with  Spirit.  As 
there  will  be  some  inconvenience,  however,  in 


INTRODUCTION.  33- 

dispensing  with  the  word  analogy,  we  shall 
continue  occasionally  to  employ  it.  Those 
who  apprehend  the  real  relation  will  mentally 
substitute  the  larger  term. 

Let  us  now  look  for  a  moment  at  the  pres- 
ent state  of  the  question.  Can  it  be  said  that 
the  Laws  of  the  Spiritual  World  are  in  any 
sense  considered  even  to  have  analogic  :  with 
the  Natural  World  ?  Here  and  there  certainly 
one  finds  an  attempt,  and  a  successful  attempt, 
to  exhibit  on  a  rational  basis  one  or  two  of 
the  great  Moral  Principles  of  the  Spiritual 
World.  But  the  Physical  World  has  not  been 
appealed  to.  Its  magnificent  system  of  Laws 
remains  outside,  audits  contribution  meanwhile 
is  either  silently  ignored  or  purposely  set  aside. 
The  Physical,  it  is  said,  is  too  remote  from  the 
Spiritual.  The  Moral  World  may  afford  a 
basis  for  religious  truth,  but  even  this  is  often 
the  baldest  concession  ;  while  the  appeal  to 
the  Physical  universe  is  everywhere  dismissed 
as,  on  the  face  of  it,  irrelevant  and  unfruitful. 
From  the  scientific  side,  again,  nothing  has 
been  done  to  court  a  closer  fellowship.  Science 
has  taken  theology  at  its  own  estimate.  It  is 
a  thing  apart.  The  Spiritual  World  is  not 
only  a  different  world,  but  a  different  kind  of 
a  world,  a  world  arranged  on  a  totally  different 
principle,  under  a  different  governmental 
scheme. 

The  Reign  of  Law  has  gradually  crept  into 
every  department  of  Nature,  transforming 
knowledge  everywhere  into  Science.  The  proc- 
ess goes  on  and  Nature  slowly  appears  to  us  as- 
3 


34  INTRODUCTIOX. 

one  great  unity,  until  the  borders  of  the  Spirit- 
ual World  are  reached.  There  the  Law  of 
Continuity  ceases,  and  the  harmony  breaks 
down.  And  men  who  have  learned  their  ele- 
mentary lessons  truly  from  the  alphabet  of 
the  lower  Laws,  going  on  to  seek  a  higher 
knowledge,  are  suddenly  confronted  with  the 
Great  Exception. 

Even  those  who  have  examined  most  care- 
fully the  relations  of  the  Natural  and  the 
Spiritual,  seem  to  have  committed  themselves 
deliberately  to  a  final  separation  in  matters  of 
Law.  It  is  a  surprise  to  find  such  a  writer  as 
Horace  Bushnell,  f»  r  instance,  describing  the 
Spiritual  World  as  "  another  system  of  nature 
incommunicably  separate  from  ours,"  and 
further  defining  it  thus:  "Tod  Las,  in  fact, 
erected  another  and  higher  s;'st3m,  I" -at  of 
spiritual  being  and  government  f?r  which 
nature  exists ;  a  system  not  under  the  l.w  of 
cause  and  effect,  but  ruled  and  marshalled 
tinder  other  kinds  of  law. ."  l  Few  men  h.rro 
shown  more  insight  than  Bushnell  in  illustrat- 
ing Spiritual  truth  from  the  Natural  World ; 
but  he  has  not  only  failed  to  perceive  the 
analogy  with  regard  to  Law,  but  emphatically 
denies  it. 

In  the  recent  literature  of  this  whole  region 
there  nowhere  seems  any  advance  upon  the 
position  of  "Nature  and  the  Supernatural." 
All  are  agreed  in  speaking  of  Nature  and  the 
Supernatural.  Nature  in  the  Supernatural,  so 

*  "  Nature  and  the  Supernatural,''  p.  19. 


INTRODUCTION.  36 

far  as  Laws  tire  concerned,  is  still  an  unknown 
truth. 

"  The  Scientific  Basis  of  Faith  "  is  a  sug- 
gestive title.  The  accomplished  author  an- 
nounces that  the  object  of  his  investigation  is 
to  show  that  "  the  world  of  nature  and  mind, 
as  made  known  by  science,  constif.utr  a  basis 
and  a  preparation  for  that  \\\i  est  moral  and 
spiritual  life  of  man,  which  is  evoked  by  the 
self-revelation  of  God."1  On  the  whole,  Mr. 
Murphy  seems  to  be  more  philosophical  and 
more  profound  in  his  view  of  he  relation  >f 
science  and  religion  than  any  writer  of  modern 
times.  His  conception  of  religion  is  broad  si'id 
lofty,  his  acquaintance  with  science  adequate. 
He  makes  constant,  admirable,  and  often 
original  use  of  analogy;  and  yet,  in  spl  e  of 
the  promise  of  this  quotation,  he  has  fa  ed  to 
find  any  analogy  in  that  department  of  Law 
where  surely,  of  all  others,  it  migh'-  most  rea- 
sonably be  looked  for.  In  the  broad  su  cct 
even  of  the  analogies  of  what  he  defines 
as  "  evangelical  religion  "  with  Nature,  1'.\\ 
Murphy  discovers  nothing.  Nor  can  this  bo 
traced  cither  to  short-sight  or  over-sight.  The 
ject  occurs  to  him  more  than  once,  and  he 
deliberately  dismisses  it — dismisses  it  not 
merely  as  unfruitful,  but  with  a  distinct  denial 
of  its  relevancy.  The  memorable  paragraph 
from  Origen  which  forms  the  text  of  Butler's 
"Analogy,"  he  calls  "this  shallow  and  false 

"  ^he  Scientific  Basis  of  Faith."     By  J.  J.  Murphj, 

• .  ; 


86  INTRODUCTION. 

saying."  *  He  says  :  "  The  designation  ol 
Butler's  scheme  of  religious  philosophy  ought 
then  to  be  the  analogy  of  religion,  legal  and 
evangelical,  to  the  constitution  of  nature.  But 
•does  this  give  altogether  a  true  meaning  ? 
Does  this  double  analogy  really  exist?  If 
justice  is  natural  law  among  1  eings  having 
<i  moral  nature,  there  is  the  closest  analogy 
between  the  constitution  of  nature  and  merely 
legal  religion.  Legal  religion  is  ~nly  the  exten- 
sion of  natural  justice  into  a  future  life.  .  . 
But  is  this  true  of  evangelical  religion  ? 
Have  the  doctrines  of  Divine  grace  any  similar 
support  in  the  analogies  of  nature?  I  trow 
net."  2  And  with  reference  to  a  specific  ques- 
tion, speaking  of  immortality,  he  asserts  that 
"  olie  analogies  of  mere  nature  are  opposed  to 
the  dextrine  of  immortality." 8 

Wi'jh  regard  to  Butler's  great  work  in  this 
department,  it  is  needless  at  this  time  of  day 
to  ;ioint  out  that  his  aims  did  not  lie  exactly 
in  tlxis  direction.  He  did  not  seek  to  indicate 
analogies  between  religion  and  the  constitution 
and  course  of  Nature.  His  theme  was,  "  The 
Analogy  of  Religion  to  the  constitution  and 
course  of  Nature."  And  although  he  pointed 
out  direct  analogies  of  Phenomena,  such  as 
those  between  the  metamorphoses  of  insects 
;and  the  doctrine  of  a  future  state ;  and  although 
lie  showed  that  '•  the  natural  and  moral  con- 
stitution and  government  of  the  world  are  so 
connected  as  to  make  up  together  but  one 

1  Op.  cit.,  p.  333.     2  Ibid.,  p.  333.    8  Ibid.,  p.  331. 


INTRODUCTION.  3T 

scheme,"  l  his  real  intention  was  not  so  much 
to  construct  arguments  as  to  repel  objections. 
His  emphasis  accordingly  was  laid  upon  the 
difficulties  of  the  two  schemes  rather  than  on 
their  positive  lines  ;  and  so  thoroughly  has  he 
made  out  his  point,  that,  as  is  well  known,  the 
effect  upon  many  has  been,  not  to  lead  them  to 
accept  the  Spiritual  World  on  the  ground  of 
the  Natural,  but  to  make  them  despair  of  both. 
Butler  lived  at  a  time  when  defence  was  more 
necessary  than  construction,  when  the  mate- 
rials for  construction  were  scarce  and  insecure, 
and  when,  besides,  some  of  the  things  to  be 
defended  were  quite  incapable  of  defence. 
Notwithstanding  this,  his  influence  over  thfr 
whole  field  since  has  been  unparalleled. 

After  all,  then,  the  Spiritual  World,  as  it  ap- 
pears at  this  moment,  is  outside  Natural  Law. 
Theology  continues  to  be  considered,  as  it  has 
always  been,  a  thing  apart.  It  remains  still 
a  stupendous  and  splendid  construction,  but  on 
lines  altogether  its  own.  Now  is  Theology  to 
be  blamed  for  this.  Nature  has  been  long  in 
speaking ;  even  yet  its  voice  is  low,  sometimes 
inaudible.  Science  is  the  true  defaulter,  for 
Theology  had  to  wait  patiently  for  its  develop- 
ment.  As  the  highest  of  the  sciences,  The- 
ology in  the  order  of  evolution  should  be  the 
last  to  fall  into  rank.  It  is  reserved  for  it  to 
perfect  the  final  harmony.  Still,  if  it  continues 
longer  to  remain  a  thing  apart,  with  increasing 
reason  will  be  such  protests  as  this  of  the 

l"  Analogy,"  chap.  vii. 


88  INTRODUCTION. 

"  Unseen  Universe,"  when,  in  speaking  of  a 
view  of  miracles  held  by  an  older  Theology,  it 
declares : — "  If  he  submits  to  be  guided  by 
such  interpreters,  each  intelligent  being  will 
forever  continue  to  be  baffled  in  any  attempt 
to  explain  these  phenomena,  because  they  are 
said  to  have  no  physical  relation  to  anything 
that  went  before  or  that  followed  after ;  in  fine, 
they  are  made  to  form  a  universe  within  a  uni- 
verse, a  portion  cut  off  by  an  insurmount- 
able barrier  from  the  domain  of  scientific 
inquiry."  1 

This  is  the  secret  of  the  present  decadence  of 
Religion  in  the  world  of  Science.  For  Science 
can  hear  nothing  of  a  Great  Exception.  Con- 
structions on  unique  lines,  "  portions  cut  off 
by  an  insurmountable  barrier  from  the  domain 
of  scientific  inquiry,"  it  dare  not  recognize. 
Nature  has  taught  it  this  lesson,  and  Nature 
is  right.  It  is  the  province  of  Science  to  vindi- 
cate Nature  here  at  any  hazard.  But  in  blam- 
ing Theology  for  its  intolerance,  it  has  been 
betrayed  into  an  intolerance  less  excusable.  It 
has  pronounced  upon  it  too  soon.  What  if 
Religion  be  yet  brought  within  the  sphere  of 
Law?  Law  is  the  revelation  of  time.  One  by 
one  slowly  through  the  centuries  the  Sciences 
have  crystallized  into  geometrical  form,  each 
form  not  only  perfect  in  itself,  but  perfect  in 
its  relation  to  all  other  forms.  Many  forms 
had  to  be  perfected  before  the  form  of  the 
Spiritual.  The  Inorganic  has  to  be  worked  out 

*  "  Unseen  Universe,"  6th  ed.,  pp,  89,  90. 


INTRODUCTION.  39 

before  the  Organic,  the  Natural  before  the 
Spiritual.  Theology  at  present  has  merely  an 
ancient  and  provisional  philosophic  form.  By 
and  by  it  will  be  seen  whether  it  be  not  sus- 
ceptible of  another.  For  Theology  must  pass 
through  the  necessary  stages  of  progress,  like 
any  other  science.  The  method  of  science- 
making  is  now  fully  established.  In  almost  all 
cases  the  natural  history  and  development  are 
the  same.  Take,  for  example,  the  case  of  Geol- 
ogy. A  century  ago  there  was  none.  Science 
went  out  to  look  for  it,  and  brought  back 
a  Geology  which,  if  Nature  were  a  harmony, 
had  falsehood  written  almost  on  its  face.  It 
was  the  Geology  of  Catastrophism,  a  Geology 
so  out  of  line  with  Nature  as  revealed  by  the 
other  sciences,  that  on  d  priori  grounds  a 
thoughtful  mind  might  have  been  justified  in 
dismissing  it  as  a  final  form  of  any  science. 
And  its  fallacy  was  soon  and  thoroughly  ex- 
posed. The  advent  of  modified  uniformitarian 
principles  all  but  banished  the  word  catastrophe 
from  science,  and  marked  the  birth  of  Geol- 
ogy as  we  know  it  now.  Geology,  that  is  to  say, 
had  fallen  at  last  into  the  great  scheme  of  Law. 
Religious  doctrines,  many  of  them  at  least, 
have  been  up  to  this  time  all  but  as  catastro- 
phic as  the  old  Geo'ogy.  They  are  not  on  the 
lines  of  Nature  as  we  have  learned  to  decipher 
her.  If  any  one  feel,  as  Science  complains  that 
it  feels,  that  the  lie  of  things  in  the  Spiritual 
World  as  arranged  by  Theology  is  not  in  har- 
mony with  the  world  around,  is  not,  in  short, 
scientific,  he  is  entitled  to  raise  the  question 


40  INTRODUCTION. 

•whether  this  be  really  the  final  form  of  those  de- 
partments of  Theology  to  which  his  complaint 
refers.  He  is  justified,  moreover,  in  demanding 
a  new  investigation  with  all  modern  methods 
and  resources;  and  Science  is  bound  by  its 
principles  not  less  than  by  the  lessons  of  its  own 
past,  to  suspend  judgment  till  the  last  attempt 
is  made.  The  success  of  such  an  attempt  will 
be  looked  forward  to  with  hopefulness  or  fear- 
fulness  just  in  proportion  to  one's  confidence 
in  Nature — in  proportion  to  one's  belief  in  tho 
divinity  of  man  and  in  the  divinity  of  things 
If  there  is  any  truth  in  the  unity  of  Nature,  if 
that  supreme  principle  of  Continuity  which  ; 
growing  in  splendor  with  every  discovery  of 
science,  the  conclusion  is  foregone.  If  there 
is  any  foundation  for  Theology,  if  the  phe- 
nomena of  the  Spiritual  "World  are  real,  in  the 
nature  of  things  they  ought  to  come  into  the 
sphere  of  Law.  Such  is  at  once  the  demand 
of  Science  upon  Religion  and  the  prophecy 
that  it  can  and  shall  be  fulfilled. 

The  Botany  of  Linnaeus,  a  purely  artificial 
system,  was  a  splendid  contribution  to  human 
knowledge,  and  did  more  in  its  day  to  enlarge 
the  view  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  than  all 
that  had  gone  before.  But  all  artificial  sys- 
tems must  pass  away.  None  knew  better 
than  the  great  Swedish  naturalist  himself  that 
his  system,  being  artificial,  was  but  provisional. 
Nature  must  be  read  in  its  own  light.  And 
as  the  botanical  field  became  more  luminous, 
the  system  of  Jussieu  and  De  Candolle  slowly 
•emerged  as  a  native  growth,  unfolded  itself  ai 


INTRODUCTION.  41 

naturally  as  the  petals  of  one  of  its  own 
flowers,  and  forcing  itself  upon  men's  intelli- 
gence as  the  very  voice  of  Nature,  banished 
the  Linnsean  system  forever.  It  were  unjust 
to  say  that  the  present  Theology  is  as  artifi- 
cial as  the  system  of  Linnaeus ;  in  many  partic- 
ulars it  wants  but  a  fresh  expression  to  make 
it  in  the  most  modern  sense  scientific.  But  if 
it  has  a  basis  in  the  constitution  and  course  of 
Nature,  that  basis  has  never  been  adequately 
shown.  It  has  depended  on  Authority  rather 
than  on  Law  ;  and  a  new  basis  must  be  sought 
and  found  if  it  is  to  be  presented  to  those  with 
whom  Law  alone  is  Authority. 

It  is  not  of  course  to  be  inferred  that  the 
scientific  method  will  ever  abolish  the  radical 
distinctions  of  the  Spiritual  World.  True 
science  proposes  to  itself  no  such  general  lev- 
elling in  any  department.  Within  the  unity 
of  the  whole  there  must  always  be  room  for 
the  characteristic  differences  of  the  parts,  and 
those  tendencies  of  thought  at  the  present  time 
which  ignore  such  distinctions,  in  their  zeal 
for  simplicity  really  create  confusion.  As  has 
been  well  said  by  Mr.  Button  :  "  Any  attempt 
to  merge  the  distinctive  characteristic  of  a 
higher  science  in  a  lower — of  chemical  changes 
in  mechanical — of  physiological  in  chemical — 
above  all,  of  mental  changes  in  physiological 
— is  a  neglect  of  the  radical  assumption  of  all 
science,  because  it  is  an  attempt  to  deduce 
representations, — or  rather  misrepresentations 
— of  one  kind  of  phenomenon  from  a  concep- 
tion of  another  kind  which  does  not  contain  it, 


42  INTRODUCTION. 

and  must  have  it  implicitly  and  illicitly  smug- 
gled  in  before  it  can  be  extracted  out  of  it 
Hence,  instead  of  increasing  our  means  of  rep- 
resenting the  universe  to  ourselves  without 
the  detailed  examination  of  particulars,  such 
a  procedure  leads  to  misconstructions  of  fact 
on  the  basis  of  an  imported  theory,  and  gener- 
ally ends  in  forcibly  perverting  the  least-known 
science  to  the  type  of  the  better  known." l 

What  is  wanted  is  simply  a  unity  of  concep- 
tion, but  not  such  a  unity  of  conception  as 
should  be  founded  on  an  absolute  identity  of 
phenomena.  This  latter  might  indeed  be  a 
unity,  but  it  would  be  a  very  tame  one.  The 
perfection  of  unity  is  attained  where  there  is 
infinite  variety  of  phenomena,  infinite  com- 
plexity of  relation,  but  great  simplicity  of  Law. 
Science  will  be  complete  when  all  known 
phenomena  can  be  arranged  in  one  vast  circle 
in  which  a  few  well-known  Laws  shall  form  the 
radii — these  radii  at  once  separating  and  unit- 
ing, separating  into  particular  T-ups,  yet  unit- 
ing all  to  a  common  centre.  To  show  that  the 
radii  for  some  of  the  most  characteristic  phe- 
nomena of  the  Spiritual  World  are  already 
drawn  within  that  circle  by  science  is  the  main 
object  of  the  papers  which  follow.  There  will  be 
found  an  attempt  to  re-state  a  few  of  the  more 
elementary  facts  of  the  Spiritual  Life  in  terms 
of  Biology*  Any  argument  for  Natural  Law  in 
the  Spiritual  World  may  be  best  tested  in  the 
4  posteriori  form.  And  although  the  succeed- 

i  ••  Essays,"  voL  1.  p.  40. 


INTRODUCTION.  43 

ing  pages  are  not  designed  in  the  first  instance 
to  prove  a  principle,  they  may  yet  be  entered 
here  as  evidence.  The  practical  test  is  a  se- 
vere one,  but  on  that  account  all  the  more 
satisfactory. 

And  what  will  be  gained  if  the  point  be 
made  out?  Not  a  few  things.  For  one,  as 
partly  indicated  already,  the  scientific  demand 
of  the  age  will  be  satisfied.  That  demand  is 
that  all  that  concerns  life  and  conduct  shall  be 
placed  on  a  scientific  basis.  The  only  great 
attempt  to  meet  that  at  present  is  Positivism. 

But  what  again  is  a  scientific  basis?  What 
exactly  is  this  demand  of  the  age?  "By 
Science  I  understand,"  says  Huxley,  "all 
knowledge  which  rests  upon  evidence  and  rea- 
soning of  a  like  character  to  that  which  claims 
our  assent  to  ordinary  scientific  propositions  ; 
and  if  any  one  is  able  make  good  the  asser- 
tion that  his  theology  rests  upon  valid  evi- 
dence and  sound  reasoning,  then  it  appears  to 
me  that  such  theology  must  take  its  place  as 
a  part  of  science."  That  the  assertion  has 
been  already  made  good  is  claimed  by  many 
who  deserve  to  be  heard  on  questions  of  scien- 
tific evidence.  But  if  more  is  wanted  by  some 
minds,  more  not  perhaps  of  a  higher  kind  but 
of  a  different  kind,  at  least  the  attempt  can 
be  made  to  gratify  them.  Mr.  Frederic  Harri- 
son,1 in  name  of  the  Positive  method  of 
thought,  "  turns  aside  from  ideal  standards 

1  "  A  Modern  Symposium." — Nineteenth  Centuryt 
vol.  i.,  p.  625. 


44  INTRODUCTION. 

which  avow  themselves  to  be  lawless  [the 
italics  are  Mr.  Harrison's],  which  profess  to 
transcend  the  field  of  law.  We  say,  life  and 
conduct  shall  stand  for  us  wholly  on  a  basis  of 
law,  and  must  rest  entirely  in  that  region  of 
science  (not  physical,  but  moral  and  social 
science)  where  we  are  free  to  use  our  intelli- 
gence, in  the  methods  known  to  us  as  intelligi- 
ble logic,  methods  which  the  intellect  can  an- 
alyze. When  you  confront  us  with  hypoth- 
eses, however  sublime  and  however  affecting, 
if  they  cannot  be  stated  in  terms  of  the  rest 
of  our  knowledge,  if  they  are  disparate  to 
that  world  of  sequence  and  sensation  which  to 
us  is  the  ultimate  base  of  all  our  real  knowl- 
edge, then  we  shake  our  heads  and  turn 
aside."  This  is  a  most  reasonable  demand, 
and  we  humbly  accept  the  challenge.  We 
think  religious  truth,  or  at  all  events  certain 
of  the  largest  facts  of  the  Spiritual  Life,  can 
be  stated  "  in  terms  of  the  rest  of  our  knowl- 
edge." 

We  do  not  say,  as  already  hinted,  that  the 
proposal  includes  an  attempt  to  prove  the 
existence  of  the  Spiritual  World.  Does  that 
need  proof  ?  And  if  so,  what  sort  of  evidence 
would  be  considered  in  court  ?  The  facts  of 
the  Spiritual  World  are  as  real  to  thousands 
as  the  facts  of  the  Natural  World — and  more 
real  to  hundreds.  But  were  one  asked  to 
prove  that  the  Spiritual  World  can  be  discerned 
by  the  appropriate  faculties,  one  would  do  it 
precisely  as  one  would  attempt  to  prove  the 
Natural  World  to  be  an  object  of  recognition 


INTRODUCTION.  46 

to  the  senses — and  with  as  much  or  as  little 
success.  In  either  instance  probably  the  fact 
would  be  found  incapable  of  demonstration, 
but  not  more  in  the  one  case  than  in  the  other. 
Were  one  asked  to  prove  the  existence  of 
Spiritual  Life,  one  would  also  do  it  exactly  as 
one  would  seek  to  prove  Natural  Life.  And 
this  perhaps  might  be  attempted  with  more 
hope.  But  this  is  not  on  the  immediate  pro- 
gramme. Science  deals  with  known  facts ;  and 
accepting  certain  known  facts  in  the  Spiritual 
World  we  proceed  to  arrange  them,  to  dis- 
cover their  Laws,  to  inquire  if  they  can  be 
stated  "  in  terms  of  the  rest  of  our  knowl- 
edge." 

At  the  same  time,  although  attempting  no 
philosophical  proof  of  the  existence  of  a  Spirit- 
ual Life  and  a  Spiritual  World,  we  are  not 
without  hope  that  the  general  line  of  thought 
here  may  be  useful  to  some  who  are  honestly 
inquiring  in  these  directions.  The  stumbling- 
block  to  most  minds  is  perhaps  less  the  mere 
existence  of  the  unseen  than  the  want  of  defi- 
nition, the  apparently  hopeless  vagueness,  and 
not  least,  the  delight  in  this  vagueness  as  mere 
vagueness  by  some  who  look  upon  this  as  the 
mark  of  quality  in  Spiritual  things.  It  will 
be  at  least  something  to  tell  earnest  seekers 
that  the  Spiritual  World  is  not  a  castle  in  the 
air,  of  an  architecture  unknown  to  earth  or 
heaven,  but  a  fair  ordered  realm  furnished  with 
many  familiar  things  and  ruled  by  well  re- 
membered Laws. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  emphasize  under 


46  INTRODUCTION. 

a  second  head  the  gain  in  clearness.  The 
Spiritual  world  as  it  stands  is  full  of  perplex- 
ity. One  can  escape  doubt  only  by  escaping 
thought.  With  regard  to  many  important 
articles  of  religion,  perhaps  the  best  and  the 
worst  course  at  present  open  to  a  doubter  is 
simply  credulity.  Who  is  to  answer  for  this 
state  of  things  ?  It  comes  as  a  necessary  tax 
for  improvement  on  the  age  in  which  we  live. 
The  old  ground  of  faith,  Authority,  is  given 
up;  the  new,  Science,  has  not  yet  taken  its 
place.  Men  did  not  require  to  see  truth  before ; 
they  only  needed  to  believe  it.  Truth,  there- 
fore, had  not  been  put  by  Theology  in  a  seeing 
form — which,  however,  was  its  original  form. 
But  now  they  ask  to  see  it.  And  when  it  is 
shown  them  they  start  back  in  despair.  We 
shall  not  say  what  they  see.  But  we  shall 
say  what  they  might  see.  If  the  Natural 
Laws  were  run  through  the  Spiritual  World, 
they  might  see  the  great  lines  of  religious 
truth  as  clearly  and  simply  as  the  broad  lines 
of  science.  As  they  gazed  into  that  Natural- 
Spi ritual  World  they  would  say  to  themselves, 
"  We  have  seen  something  like  this  before. 
This  order  is  known  to  us.  It  is  not  arbitrary. 
This  Law  here  is  that  old  Law  there,  and  this 
Phenomenon  here,  what  can  it  be  but  that 
which  stood  in  precisely  the  same  relation  to 
that  Law  yonder  ? "  And  so  gradually  from 
the  new  form  everything  assumes  new  mean- 
ing. So  the  Spiritual  World  becomes  slowly 
Natural ;  and,  what  is  of  all  but  equal  moment, 
the  Natural  World  becomes  slowly  Spiritual. 


INTRODUCTION.  47 

Nature  is  not  a  mere  image  or  emblem  of  the 
Spiritual.  It  is  a  working  model  of  the  Spirit- 
ual. In  the  Spiritual  World  the  same  wheels 
revolve — but  without  the  iron.  The  same 
figures  flit  across  the  stage,  the  same  processes 
of  growth  go  on,  the  same  functions  are  dis- 
charged, the  same  biological  laws  prevail — 
only  with  a  different  quality  of  Bto<?.  Plato's 
prisoner,  if  not  out  of  the  Cave,  has  at  least  his 
face  to  the  light. 

"  The  earth  is  cram'd  with  heaven, 
And  every  common  bush  afire  with  God." 

How  much  of  the  Spiritual  World  is  covered 
by  Natural  Law  we  do  not  propose  at  present 
to  inquire.  It  is  certain,  at  least,  that  the 
whole  is  not  covered.  And  nothing  more  lends 
confidence  to  the  method  than  this.  For  one 
thing,  room  is  still  left  for  mystery.  Had  no 
place  remained  for  mystery  it  had  proved  itself 
both  unscientific  and  irreligious.  A  Science 
without  mystery  is  unknown  ;  a  Religion  with- 
out mystery  is  absurd.  This  no  attempt  to  re- 
duce Religion  to  a  question  of  mathematics,  or 
demonstrate  God  in  biological  formulae.  The 
elimination  of  mystery  from  the  universe  is 
the  elimination  of  Religion.  However  far  the 
scientific  method  may  penetrate  the  Spiritual 
World,  there  will  always  remain  a  region  to  be 
explored  by  a  scientific  faith.  "  I  shall  never 
rise  to  the  point  of  view  which  wishes  to 
*  raise '  faith  to  knowledge.  To  me,  the  way 
of  truth  is  to  come  through  the  knowledge  of 


48  INTRODUCTION. 

my  ignorance  to  the  submissiveness  of  faith, 
and  then,  making  that  my  starting  place,  to 
raise  my  knowledge  into  faith."  1 

Lest  this  proclamation  of  mystery  should 
seem  alarming,  let  us  add  that  this  mystery 
also  is  scientific.  The  one  subject  on  which  all 
scientific  men  are  agreed,  the  one  theme  on 
which  all  alike  become  eloquent,  the  one  strain 
of  pathos  in  all  their  writing  and  speaking  and 
thinking,  concerns  that  final  uncertainty,  that 
utter  blackness  of  darkness  bounding  their 
work  on  every  side.  If  the  light  of  Nature  is 
to  illuminate  for  us  the  Spiritual  Sphere  there 
may  well  be  a  black  Unknown,  corresponding,, 
at  least  at  some  points,  to  this  zone  of  dark- 
ness round  the  Natural  World. 

But  the  final  gain  would  appear  in  the 
department  of  Theology.  The  establishment 
of  the  Spiritual  Laws  on  "  the  solid  ground  of 
Nature,"  to  which  the  mind  trusts  "which 
builds  for  aye,"  would  offer  a  new  basis  for 
certainty  in  Religion.  It  has  been  indicated 
that  the  authority  of  Authority  is  waning. 
This  is  a  plain  fact.  And  it  was  inevitable. 
Authority — man's  Authority  that  is — is  for 
children.  And  there  necessarily  comes  a  time 
when  they  add  to  the  question,  What  shall  I 
do?  or,  What  shall  I  believe?  the  adult's 
interrogation — Why?  Now  this  question  is 
sacred,  and  must  be  answered. 

"  How  truly  its  central  position  is  impreg- 

1  Beck:  "Bib.  Psychol.,"  Clark's  Tr.,  Pref.,  2d  Ed. 
p.  xiii. 


INTRODUCTION.  49 

nable,"  Herbert  Spencer  has  well  discerned, 
"religion  has  never  adequately  realized.  In 
the  devoutest  faith,  as  we  habitually  see  it, 
there  lies  hidden  an  innermost  core  of  scepti- 
cism ;  and  it  is  this  scepticism  which  causes 
that  dread  of  inquiry  displayed  by  religion 
when  face  to  face  with  science." 1  True  in- 
deed ;  Religion  has  never  realized  how  im- 
pregnable are  many  of  its  positions.  It  has 
not  yet  been  placed  on  that  basis  which  would 
make-  them  impregnable.  And  in  a  transition 
period  like  the  present,  holding  Authority 
with  one  hand,  the  other  feeling  all  around  in 
the  darkness  for  some  strong  new  support, 
Theology  is  surely  to  be  pitied.  Whence  this 
dread  when  brought  face  to  face  with  Science? 
It  cannot  be  dread  of  scientific  fact.  No  single 
fact  in  Science  has  ever  discredited  a  fact  in 
Religion.  The  theologian  knows  that,  and 
admits  that  he  has  no  fear  of  facts.  What 
then  has  Science  done  to  make  Theology 
tremble  ?  It  is  its  method.  It  is  its  system. 
It  is  its  Reign  of  Law.  It  is  its  harmony  and 
continuity.  The  attack  is  not  specific.  No 
one  point  is  assailed.  It  is  the  whole  system 
which  when  compared  with  the  other  and 
weighed  in  its  balance  is  found  wanting.  An 
eye  which  has  looked  at  the  first  cannot  look 
upon  this.  To  do  that,  and  rest  in  the  con- 
templation, it  has  first  to  uncentury  itself. 

Herbert  Spencer  points  out  further,  with 
how  much  truth  need  not  now  be  discussed, 

1  "  First  Principles,"  p.  161. 


50  INTRODUCTION. 

that  the  purification  of  Religion  has  always 
come  from  Science.  It  is  very  apparent  at 
all  events  that  an  immense  debt  must  soon  be 
contracted.  The  shifting  of  the  furnishings 
will  be  a"  work  of  time.  But  it  must  be  ac- 
complished. And  not  the  least  result  of  the 
process  will  be  the  effect  upon  Science  itself. 
No  department  of  knowledge  ever  contributes 
to  another  without  receiving  its  own  again 
with  usury — witness  the  reciprocal  favors  of 
Biology  and  Sociology.  From  the  time  that 
Comte  defined  the  analogy  between  the  phe- 
nomena exhibited  by  aggregations  of  associated 
men  and  those  of  animal  colonies,  the  Science 
of  Life  and  the  Science  of  Society  have  been  so 
contributing  to  one  another  that  their  progress 
since  has  been  all  but  hand-in-hand.  A  con- 
ception borrowed  by  the  one  has  been  observed 
in  time  finding  its  way  back,  and  always  in 
an  enlarged  form,  to  further  illuminate  and 
enrich  the  field  it  left.  So  must  it  be  with 
Science  and  Religion.  If  the  purification  of 
Religion  comes  from  Science,  the  purification 
of  Science,  in  a  deeper  sense,  shall  come  from 
Religion.  The  true  ministry  of  Nature  must 
at  last  be  honored,  and  Science  take  its  place 
as  the  great  expositor.  To  Men  of  Science, 
not  less  than  to  Theologians, 

"Science  then 

Shall  be  a  precious  visitant  ;  and  then, 
And  only  then,  be  worthy  of  her  name  ; 
For  then  her  heart  shall  kindle,  her  dull  eye, 
Dull  and  inanimate,  no  more  shall  hang 
Chained  to  its  object  in  brute  slavery  ; 
But  taught  with  patient  interest  to  watch 


INTRODUCTION.  51 

The  process  of  things,  and  serve  the  cause 

Of  order  and  distinctness,  not  for  this 

Shall  it  forget  that  its  most  noble  use, 

Its  most  illustrious  province,  must  be  found 

In  furnishing  clear  guidance,  a  support, 

Not  treacherous,  to  the  mind's  excursive  power."  l 

But  the  gift  of  Science  to  Theology  shall  be 
not  less  rich.  With  the  inspiration  of  Nature 
to  illuminate  what  the  inspiration  of  Revela- 
tion has  left  obscure,  heresy  in  certain  whole 
departments  shall  become  impossible.  With 
the  demonstration  of  the  naturalness  of  the 
supernatural,  scepticism  even  may  come  to 
be  regarded  as  unscientific.  And  those  who 
have  wrestled  long  for  a  few  bare  truths  to 
ennoble  life  and  rest  their  souls  in  thinking  of 
the  future  will  not  be  left  in  doubt. 

It  is  impossible  to  believe  that  the  amazing 
succession  of  revelations  in  the  domain  of 
Nature  during  the  last  few  centuries,  at  which 
the  world  has  all  but  grown  tired  wondering, 
are  to  yield  nothing  for  the  higher  life.  If  the 
development  of  doctrine  is  to  have  any  mean- 
ing for  the  future,  Theology  must  draw  upon 
the  further  revelation  of  the  seen  for  the  fur- 
ther revelation  of  the  unseen.  It  need,  and 
can,  add  nothing  to  fact;  but  as  the  vision  of 
Newton  rested  on  a  clearer  and  richer  world 
than  that  of  Plato,  so,  though  seeing  the  same 
things  in  the  Spiritual  World  as  our  fathers, 
we  may  see  them  clearer  and  richer.  With 
the  work  of  the  centuries  upon  it,  the  mental 

1  Wordsworth's  Excursion,  Book  iv. 


£2  INTR  OD  UCTION. 

<eye  is  a  finer  instrument,  and  demands  a  more 
-ordered  world.  Had  the  revelation  of  Law 
been  given  sooner,  it  had  been  unintelligible. 
Revelation  never  volunteers  anything  that  man 
could  discover  for  himself — on  the  principle, 
probably,  that  it  is  only  when  he  is  capable  of 
discovering  it  that  he  is  capable  of  appreciating 
it.  Besides,  children  do  not  need  Laws,  ex- 
cept Laws  in  the  sense  of  commandments. 
They  repose  with  simplicity  on  authority,  and 
ask  no  questions.  But  there  comes  a  time,  as 
the  world  reaches  its  manhood,  when  they  will 
ask  questions,  and  stake,  moreover,  everything 
on  the  answers.  That  time  is  now.  Hence 
we  must  exhibit  our  doctrines,  not  lying 
athwart  the  lines  of  the  world's  thinking,  in  a 
place  reserved,  and  therefore  shunned,  for  the 
Great  Exception ;  but  in  their  kinship  to  all 
truth  and  in  their  Law-relation  to  the  whole 
of  Nature.  This  is,  indeed,  simply  following 
•out  the  system  of  teaching  begun  by  Christ 
Himself.  And  what  is  the  search  for  spir- 
itual truth  in  the  Laws  of  Nature  but  an  at- 
tempt to  utter  the  parables  which  have  been 
hid  so  long  in  the  world  around  without  a 
preacher,  and  to  tell  men  once  more  that  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  like  unto  this  and  to 
that? 


INTRODUCTION.  55 


PART  II. 

THE  Law  of  Continuity  having  been  referred 
to  already  as  a  prominent  factor  in  this  in- 
quiry, it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  sustain 
plea  for  Natural  Law  in  the  Spiritual  Sphere 
by  a  brief  statement  and  application  of  this 
great  principle.  The  Law  of  Continuity  fur- 
nishes an  d  priori  argument  for  the  position 
we  are  attempting  to  establish  of  the  most 
convincing  kind — of  such  a  kind,  indeed,  as  to 
seem  to  our  mind  final.  Briefly  indicated,  the 
ground  taken  up  is  this,  that  if  Nature  be 
a  harmony,  Man  in  all  his  relations — physical,, 
mental,  moral,  and  spiritual — falls  to  be  in- 
cluded within  its  circle.  It  is  altogether  un- 
likely that  man  spiritual  should  be  violently 
separated  in  all  the  conditions  of  growth,  de- 
velopment, and  life,  from  man  physical.  It 
is  indeed  difficult  to  conceive  that  one  set  of 
principles  should  guide  the  natural  life,  and 
these  at  a  certain  period — the  very  point 
where  they  are  needed — suddenly  give  place 
to  another  set  of  principles  altogether  new 
and  unrelated.  Nature  has  never  taught  us 
to  expect  such  a  catastrophe.  She  has  no- 
where prepared  us  for  it.  And  Man  cannot 
in  the  nature  of  things,  in  the  nature  of 


64  IN  TROD  UCTION, 

thought,  in  the  nature  of  language,  be  sepa- 
rated into  two  such  incoherent  halves. 

The  spiritual  man,  it  is  true,  is  to  be  studied 
in  a  different  department  of  science  from  the 
natural  man.  But  the  harmony  established 
by  science  is  not  a  harmony  within  specific 
departments.  It  is  the  universe  that  is  the 
harmony,  the  universe  of  which  these  a're  but 
parts.  And  the  harmonies  of  the  parts  de- 
pend for  all  their  weight  and  interest  on  the 
harmony  of  the  whole.  While,  therefore, 
there  are  many  harmonies,  there  is  but  one 
harmony.  The  breaking  up  of  the  phenomena 
of  the  universe  into  carefully  guarded  groups, 
and  the  allocation  of  certain  prominent  Laws 
to  each,  it  must  never  be  forgotten,  and  how- 
ever much  Nature  lends  herself  to  it,  are 
artificial.  We  find  an  evolution  in  Botany, 
another  in  Geology,  and  another  in  Astronomy, 
and  the  effect  is  to  lead  one  insensibility  to 
look  upon  these  as  three  distinct  evolutions. 
But  these  sciences,  of  course,  are  mere  depart- 
ments created  by  ourselves  to  facilitate 
knowledge — reductions  of  Nature  to  the  scale 
of  our  own  intelligence.  And  we  must  beware 
of  breaking  up  Nature  except  for  this  purpose. 
Science  has  so  dissected  everything,  that  it 
becomes  a  mental  difficulty  to  put  the  puzzle 
together  again ;  and  we  must  keep  ourselves 
in  practice  by  constantly  thinking  of  Nature 
as  a  whole,  if  science  is  not  to  be  spoiled  by  its 
own  refinements.  Evolution  being  found  in 
so  many  different  sciences,  the  likelihood  is 
that  it  is  a  universal  principle.  And  there  is 


INTRODUCTION.  55 

no  presumption  whatever  against  this  La\r 
and  many  others  being  excluded  from  the  do- 
main of  the  spiritual  life.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  are  very  convincing  reasons  why  the 
Natural  Laws  should  be  continuous  through 
the  Spiritual  Sphere — not  changed  in  any  way 
to  meet  the  new  circumstances,  but  continuous 
as  they  stand. 

But  to  the  exposition.  One  of  the  most 
striking  generalizations  of  recent  science  is 
that  even  Laws  have  their  Law.  Phenomena 
first,  in  the  progress  of  knowledge,  were  grouped 
together,  and  Nature  shortly  presented  the 
spectacle  of  a  cosmos,  the  lines  of  beauty  being 
the  great  Natural  Laws.  So  long,  however,  as 
these  Laws  were  merely  great  lines  running 
through  Nature,  so  long  as  they  remained 
isolated  from  one  another,  the  system  of  Nature 
was  still  incomplete.  The  principle  which 
sought  Law  among  phenomena  had  to  go  further 
and  seek  a  Law  among  the  Laws.  Laws  them- 
selves accordingly  came  to  be  treated  as  they 
treated  phenomena,  and  found  themselves 
finally  grouped  in  a  still  narrowe  rcircle.  That 
inmost  circle  is  governed  by  one  great  Law,  the 
Law  of  Continuity.  It  is  the  Law  for  Laws. 

It  is  perhaps  significant  that  few  exact  defini- 
tions of  Continuity  are  to  be  found.  Even  in 
Sir  W.  R.  Grove's  famous  paper,1  the  fountain- 
head  of  the  modern  form  of  this  far  from 
modern  truth,  there  is  no  attempt  at  definition. 

1 "  The  Correlation  of  Physical  Forces,"  6th  Ed.  p.  181 
tt  seq. 


:66  IN  TE  OD  UCTION. 

In  point  of  fact,  its  sweep  is  so  magnificent,  it: 
appeals  so  much  more  to  the  imagination  than 
to  the  reason,  that  men  have  preferred  to 
exhibit  rather  than  to  define  it.  Its  true  great- 
ness consists  in  the  final  impression  it  leaves 
on  the  mind  with  regard  to  the  uniformity  of 
Nature.  For  it  was  reserved  for  the  Law  of 
Continuity  to  put  the  finishing  touch  to  the 
harmony  of  the  universe. 

Probably  the  most  satisfactory  way  to  secure 
ior  oneself  a  just  appreciation  of  the  Principle 
of  Continuity  is  to  try  to  conceive  the  universe 
without  it.  The  opposite  of  a  continuous  uni- 
verse would  be  a  discontinuous  universe,  an 
Incoherent  and  irrelevant  universe — as  irrel- 
evant in  all  its  ways  of  doing  things  as  an 
irrelevant  person.  In  effect,  to  withdraw  Con- 
tinuity from  the  universe  would  be  the  same 
as  to  withdraw  reason  from  an  individual. 
The  universe  would  run  deranged ;  the  world 
would  be  a  mad  world. 

There  used  to  be  a  children's  book  which  bore 
the  fascinating  title  of  "  The  Chance  World." 
It  described  a  world  in  which  everything  hap- 
pened by  chance.  The  sun  might  rise  or  it 
might  not ;  or  jjb  might  appear  at  any  hour,  or 
the  moon  might  come  up  instead.  When 
children  were  born  they  might  have  one  head 
•or  a  dozen  heads,  and  those  heads  might  not  be 
on  their  shoulders — there  might  be  no  shoulders 
— but  arranged  about  the  limbs.  If  one  jumped 
up  in  the  air  it  was  impossible  to  predict 
whether  he  would  ever  come  down  again.  That 
he  came  down  yesterday  was  no  guarantee  that 


INTRODUCTION.  57 

he  would  do  it  next  time.  For  every  day 
antecedent  and  consequent  varied,  and  gravita- 
tion and  everything  else  changed  from  hour  to 
hour.  -To-day  a  child's  body  might  be  so  light 
that  it  was  impossible  for  it  to  descend  from 
its  chair  to  the  floor ;  but  to-morrow,  in  attempt- 
ing the  experiment  again,  the  impetus  might 
drive  it  through  a  three-story  house  and  dash 
it  to  pieces  somewhere  near  the  centre  of  the 
earth.  In  this  chance  world  cause  and  effect 
were  abolished.  Law  was  annihilated.  And 
the  result  to  the  inhabitants  of  such  a  world 
could  only  be  that  reason  would  be  impossible. 
It  would  be  a  lunatic  world  with  a  population 
of  lunatics. 

Now  this  is  no  more  than  a  real  picture  of 
what  the  world  would  be  without  Law,  or  the 
universe  without  Continuity.  And  hence  we 
come  in  sight  of  the  necessity  of  some  principle 
or  Law  according  to  which  Laws  shall  be,  and 
be  "  continuous  "  throughout  the  system.  Man 
as  a  rational  and  moral  being  demands  a  pledge 
that  if  he  depends  on  Nature  for  any  given 
result  on  the  ground  that  Nature  has  pre- 
viously led  him  to  except  such  a  result,  his 
intellect  shall  not  be  insulted,  nor  his  confi- 
dence in  her  abused.  If  he  is  to  trust  Nature, 
in  short,  it  must  be  guaranteed  to  him  that  in 
doing  so  he  will  "  never  be  put  to  confusion." 
The  authors  of  the  Unseen  Universe  conclude 
their  examination  of  this  principle  by  saying 
that  "assuming  the  existence  of  a  supreme 
Governor  of  the  universe,  the  Principle  of 
Continuity  may  be  said  to  be  the  definite  ex- 


58  INTRODUCTION. 

pression  in  words  of  our  trust  that  He  will  not 
put  us  to  permanent  intellectual  confusion,  and 
we  can  easily  conceive  similar  expressions  of 
trust  with  reference  to  the  other  faculties  of 
man."  1  Or,  as  it  has  been  well  put  elsewhere, 
Continuity  is  the  expression  of  "the  Divine 
Veracity  in  Nature."  2  The  most  striking- 
examples  of  the  continuousness  of  Law  are 
perhaps  those  furnished  by  Astronomy,  espe- 
cially in  connection  with  the  more  recent  appli- 
cations of  spectrum  analysis.  But  even  in  the 
case  of  the  simpler  Laws  the  demonstration  is 
complete.  There  is  no  reason  apart  from 
Continuity  to  expect  that  «ravitation  for 
instance  should  prevail  outside  our  world. 
But  wherever  matter  has  been  detected 
throughout  the  entire  universe,  whether  in  the 
form  of  star  or  planet,  comet  or  meteorite,  it  is 
found  to  obey  that  Law.  "If  there  were  no 
other  indication  of  unity  than  this,  it  would  be 
almost  enough.  For  the  unity  which  is  implied 
in  the  mechanism  of  the  heavens  is  indeed 
a  unity  which  is  all-embracing  and  complete. 
The  structure  of  our  own  bodies,  with  all  that 
depends  upon  it,  is  a  structure  governed  by, 
and  therefore  adapted  to,  the  same  force  of 
gravitation  which  has  determined  the  form  and 
the  movements  of  myriads  f  worlds.  Every 
part  of  the  human  org  n'  '.m  Is  "tted  to  condi- 
tions which  would  all  be  d  stroyed  in  a  moment 

1  "Unseen  Universe,"  6th  Ed.  p.  88. 

2  "Old   Faiths  in  New  Light,"   by  Newman  Smith, 
Unwin's  English  edition,  p.  252. 


IN  TROD  UCTIOy.  59 

if  the  forces  of  gravitation  were  to  change  or 
fail."  » 

But  it  is  unnecessary  to  multiply  illustra- 
tions. Having  defined  the  principle  we  may 
proceed  at  once  to  apply  it.  And  the  argu- 
ment may  be  summed  up  in  a  sentence.  As 
the  Natural  Laws  are  continuous  through  the 
universe  of  matter  and  of  space,  so  will  they  be 
continuous  through  the  universe  of  spirit. 

If  this  be  denied,  what  then?  Those  who 
deny  it  must  furnish  the  disproof.  The  argu- 
ment is  founded  on  a  principle  which  is  now 
acknowledged  to  be  universal ;  and  the  onus  of 
disproof  must  lie  with  those  who  may  be  bold 
enough  to  take  up  the  position  that  a  region 
exists  whereat  last  the  Principle  of  Continuity 
fails.  To  do  this  one  would  firsf  have  to  over- 
turn Nature,  then  science,  and  last,  the  human 
mind. 

It  may  seem  an  obvious  objection  that  many 
of  the  Natural  Laws  have  no  connection  what- 
ever with  the  Spiritual  "World,  and  as  a  matter 
of  fact  are  not  continued  through  it.  Gravita- 
tion for  instance — what  direct  application  has 
that  in  the  Spiritual  World?  The  reply  is 
threefold.  First,  there  is  no  proof  that  it  d  es 
not  hold  there.  If  the  spirit  be  in  any  sense 
material  it  certainly  must  hold.  In  the  second 
place,  gravitation  may  hold  for  the  Spiritual 
Sphere  although  it  cannot  be  directly  proved. 
The  spirit  may  be  armed  with  powers  which 
enable  it  to  rise  superior  to  gravity.  During 

1  The  Duke  of  Argyll :  Contemporary  Review,  Sept,, 
1880,  p.  358. 


60  INTR  OD  UCTION. 

the  action  of  these  powers  gravity  need  be  no 
more  suspended  than  in  the  case  of  a  plant 
which  rises  hi  the  air  during  the  process  of 
growth.  It  does  this  in  virtue  of  a  higher  Law 
and  in  apparent  defiance  of  the  lower.  Thirdly, 
if  the  spiritual  he  not  material  it  still  cannot 
be  said  that  gravitation  ceases  at  that  point  to 
be  continuous.  It  is  not  gravitation  that 
ceases — it  is  matter. 

This  point,  however,  will  require  develop- 
ment for  another  reason.  In  the  case  of  the 
plant  just  referred  to,  there  is  a  principle  of 
growth  or  vitality  at  work  superseding  the  at- 
traction of  gravity.  Why  is  there  no  trace  of 
that  Law  in  the  Inorganic  world  ?  Is  not  this 
another  instance  of  the  discontinuousness  of 
Law  ?  If  the  Law  of  vitality  has  so  little  con- 
nection with  the  Inorganic  kingdom — less  even 
than  avitation  with  the  Spiritual,  what  be- 
comes of  Continuity  ?  Is  it  not  evident  that 
each  kingdom  of  Nature  has  its  own  set  of  Laws- 
which  continue  possibly  untouched  for  the 
specific  kingdom  but  never  extend  beyond  it  ? 

It  is  quite  true  that  when  we  pass  from  the 
Inorganic  to  the  Organic,  we  come  upon  a  new 
set  of  Laws.  But  the  reason  why  the  lower 
set  do  not  se^m  to  act  in  the  higher  sphere 
is  not  that  they  are  annihilated,  but  they  are 
overruled.  And  the  reason  why  the  higher 
Laws  are  not  found  operating  in  the  lower  is 
not  because  they  are  not  continuous  down- 
wards, but  because  there  is  nothing  for  them 
there  to  act  upon.  It  is  not  Law  that  fails, 
but  opportunity.  The  biological  Laws  are  con-- 


INTRODUCTION.  6! 

tinuous  for  life.  Wherever  there  is  life,  that 
is  to  say,  they  will  be  found  acting,  just  as 
gravitation  acts  wherever  there  is  matter. 

We  have  purposely,  in  the  last  paragraph, 
indulged  in  a  fallacy.  We  have  said  that  the 
biological  Laws  would  certainly  be  continuous 
in  the  lower  or  mineral  sphere  were  there  any- 
thing  there  for  them  to  act  upon.  Now  Laws 
do  not  act  upon  anything.  It  has  been  stated 
already,  although  apparently  it  cannot  be  too 
abundantly  emphasized,  that  Laws  are  only 
modes  of  operation,  not  themselves  operators. 
The  accurate  statement,  therefore,  would  be 
that  the  biological  Laws  would  be  continuous 
in  the  lower  sphere  were  there  anything  there 
for  them,  not  to  act  upon,  but  to  keep  in  order. 
If  there  is  no  acting  going  on,  if  there  is  noth- 
ing being  kept  in  order,  the  responsibility 
does  not  lie  with  Continuity.  The  Law  will 
always  be  at  its  post,  not  only  when  its  services 
are  required,  but  wherever  they  are  possible. 

Attention  is  drawn  to  this,  for  it  is  a  correc- 
tion one  will  find  oneself  compelled  often  to 
make  in  his  thinking.  It  is  so  difficult  to  keep 
out  of  mind  the  idea  of  substance  in  connection 
Avith  the  Natural  Laws,  the  Idea  that  they  are 
the  movers,  the  essences,  the  ener  'es,  that  one 
is  constantly  on  the  verge  of  falling  into  false 
conclusions.  Thus  a  hasty  glance  at  the  pres- 
ent argument  on  the  part  of  any  one  ill-fur- 
nished enough  to  confound  Law  with  substance 
or  with  cause  would  probably  lead  to  its  im- 
mediate rejection. 

For,  to  continue  the  same  line  of  illustration, 


62  INTRODUCTION. 

it  iiu^ht  next  be  urged  that  such  a  Law  as 
Biogensis,  which,  as  we  hope  to  show  after- 
wards, is  the  fundamental  Law  of  life  for  both 
the  natural  and  spiritual  worlds,  can  have  no 
application  whatsoever  in  the  latter  sphere. 
Tho  life  with  which  it  deals  in  the  Natural 
World  does  not  enter  at  all  into  the  Spiritual 
WorL',  and  therefore,  it  might  be  argued,  the 
Law  of  Biogenesis  cannot  be  capable  of  ex- 
tension into  it.  The  Law  of  Continuity  se^ms 
tt  be  snapped  at  the  point  where  the  natural 
passes  into  the  spiritual.  The  vital  principle 
c-f  the  body  is  a  different  thing  from  the  vital 
principle  of  the  spiritual  life.  Biogenesis 
deals  with  Bofc  with  the  natural  life,  with 
cells  and  germs,  and  as  there  are  no  exactly 
similar  cells  and  germs  in  the  Spiritual  World, 
the  Law  cannot  therefore  apply.  All  of  which 
is  ao  true  as  if  one  were  to  say  that  the  fifth 
proposition  of  the  First  Book  of  Euclid  applies 
when  the  figures  are  drawn  with  chalk  upon  a 
blackboard,  but  fails  with  regard  to  stru  ;tures 
of  wood  or  stone. 

The  proposition  is  continuous  for  the  whole 
world,  and,  doubtless,  likewise  for  the  sun  and 
moon  and  stars.  The  same  universality  may 
be  predicated  likewise  f  r  the  Law  of  life. 
Wherever  there  is  life  we  .i*y  expect  to  find  it 
arranged,  ordered,  governed  according  to  the 
same  Law.  At  the  beginning  of  the  natural 
life  we  find  the  Law  that  natural  life  can  only 
come  from  pre-existing  natural  life  ;  and  at 
the  beginning  of  the  spiritual  life  we  find  that 
the  spiritual  life  can  only  come  from  pre- 


INTRODUCTION.  63 

existing  spiritual  life.  But  there  are  not  two 
Laws ;  there  is  one — Biogenesis.  At  one  end 
the  Law  is  dealing  with  matter,  at  the  other 
with  spirit.  The  qualitative  terms  natural  and 
spiritual  make  no  difference.  Biogenesis  is  the 
Law  for  all  life  and  for  all  kinds  of  life,  and  the 
particular  substance  with  which  it  is  associated 
is  as  different  to  Biogenesis  as  it  is  to  Gravita- 
tion, Gravitation  will  act  whether  the  sub- 
stance be  suns  and  stars,  or  grains  of  sand,  or 
raindrops.  Biogenesis,  in  like  manner,  will 
wherever  act  there  is  life. 

The  conclusion  finally  is,  that  from  the 
nature  of  Law  in  general,  and  from  the  scope 
of  the  Principle  of  Con  tin  i  ity  in  particular, 
the  Laws  of  the  natural  life  must  be  those  of 
the  spiritual  life.  This  does  not  exclude, 
observe,  the  possibility  of  there  being  new 
Laws  in  addition  within  the  Spiritual  Sphere ; 
nor  does  it  even  include  the  supposition  that 
the  old  Laws  will  be  the  conspicuousLaws  of 
the  Spiritual  World,  both  which  points  will  be 
dealt  with  presently.  It  simply  asserts  that 
whatever  else  may  be  found,  these  must  be 
found  there ;  that  they  must  be  there  though 
they  may  not  be  seen  there;  and  that  they 
must  project  beyond  there  if  there  be  anything 
beyond  there.  If  the  Law  of  Continuity  is 
true,  the  only  way  to  escape  the  conclusion 
that  the  Laws  of  the  natural  life  are  the  Laws, 
or  at  least  are  Laws,  of  the  spiritual  life,  is  to 
say  that  there  is  no  spiritual  life. '  It  is  really 
easier  to  give  up  the  phenomena  than  to  give 
up  the  Law. 


64  JLV  TE  OD  UCTION. 

Two  questions  now  remain  for  further  con- 
sideration — one  bearing  on  the  possibility  of 
new  Law  in  the  spiritual;  the  other,  on  the 
assumed  invisibility  or  inconspicuousness  of 
the  old  Laws  on  account  of  their  subordination 
to  the  new. 

Let  us  begin  by  conceding  that  there  may  be 
new  Laws.  The  argument  might  then  be 
advanced  that  since,  in  Nature  generally,  we 
come  upon  new  Laws  as  we  pass  from  lower 
to  higher  kingdoms,  the  old  still  remaining  in 
force,  the  newer  Laws  which  one  would  expect 
to  meet  in  the  Spiritual  World  would  so  tran- 
scend and  overwhelm  the  older  as  to  make  the 
analogy  or  identity,  even  if  traced,  of  no  practi- 
cal use.  The  new  Laws  would  represent  opera- 
tions and  energies  so  different,  and  so  much 
more  elevated,  that  they  would  afford  the  true 
keys  to  the  Spiritual  World.  As  Gravitation 
is  practically  lost  sight  of  when  we  pass  into 
the  domain  of  life,  so  Biogenesis  would  be  lost 
sight  of  as  we  enter  the  Spiritual  Sphere. 

We  must  first  separate  in  this  statement  the 
old  confusion  of  Law  and  energy.  Gravitation 
is  not  lost  sight  of  in  the  organic  world.  Grav- 
ity may  be,  to  a  certain  extent,  but  not  Gravita- 
tion ;  and  gravity  only  where  a  higher  power 
counteracts  its  action.  At  the  same  time  it  is 
not  to  be  denied  that  the  conspicuous  thing  in 
Organic  Naiure  is  not  the  great  Inorganic  Law. 

But  the  objection  turns  upon  the  statement 
that  reasoning  from  analogy  we  should  expect, 
in  turn,  to  lose  sight  of  Biogenesis  as  we  enter 
the  Spiritual  Sphere.  One  answer  to  which  is 


JT  AT  Tit  OD  UCTION.  6& 

chat,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  we  do  not  lose  sight 
of  it.  So  far  from  being  invisible,  it  lies  across 
the  very  threshold  of  the  Spiritual  World,  and, 
as  we  shall  see,  pervades  it  everywhere.  What 
we  lose  sight  of,  to  a  certain  extent,  is  the 
natural  Bio?.  In  the  Spiritual  World  that  is 
not  the  conspicuous  thing,  and  it  is  obscure 
there  just  as  gravity  becomes  obscure  in  the 
Organic,  because  something  higher,  more  po- 
tent, more  characteristic  of  the  higher  plane, 
comes  in.  That  there  are  higher  energies,  so 
to  speak,  in  the  Spiritual  World  is,  of  course, 
to  be  affirmed  alike  on  the  ground  of  analogy 
and  of  experience ;  but  it  does  not  follow  that 
these  necessitate  other  Laws.  A  Law  has 
nothing  to  do  with  potency.  We  may  lose 
sight  of  a  substance,  or  of  an  energy,  but  it  is 
an  abuse  of  language  to  talk  of  losing  sight  of 
Laws. 

Are  there,  then,  no  other  Laws  in  the  Spirit- 
ual World  except  those  which  are  the  projec- 
tions or  extensions  of  Natural  Laws  ?  From 
the  number  of  Natural  Laws  which  are  found 
in  the  higher  sphere,  from  the  large  territory 
actually  embraced  by  them,  and  from  their 
special  prominence  throughout  the  whole  re- 
gion, it  may  at  least  be  answered  that  the  mar- 
gin left  for  them  is  small.  But  if  the  objection 
is  pressed  that  it  is  contrary  to  the  analogy, 
and  unreasonable  in  itself,  that  there  should 
not  be  new  Laws  for  this  higher  sphere,  the 
reply  is  obvious.  Let  these  Laws  be  produced. 
If  the  spiritual  nature,  in  inception,  growth, 
and  development,  does  not  follow  natural  prin- 


36  INTRODUCTION. 

ciples,  let  the  true  principles  be  stated  and  ex- 
plained. We  have  not  denied  that  there  may 
be  new  Laws.  One  would  almost  be  surprised 
if  there  were  not.  The  mass  of  material  handed 
over  from  the  natural  to  the  spiritual,  continu- 
ous, apparently,  from  the  natural  to  the  spirit- 
ual, is  so  great  that  till  that  is  worked  out  it 
will  be  impossible  to  say  what  space  is  still 
left  unembraced  by  Laws  that  are  known.  At 
present  it  is  impossible  even  approximately  to 
estimate  the  size  of  that  supposed  terra  incog- 
nita. From  one  point  of  view  it  ought  to  be 
vast,  from  another  extremely  small.  But  how- 
ever large  the  region  governed  by  the  suspected 
new  Laws  may  be  that  cannot  diminish  by  a 
hair's-breadth  the  size  of  the  territory  where 
the  old  Laws  still  prevail.  That  territory  it- 
self, relatively  to  us  though  perhaps  not  abso- 
lutely, must  be  of  great  extent.  The  size  of  the 
key  which  is  to  open  it,  that  is,  the  size  of  all  the 
Natural  Laws  which  can  be  found  to  apply,  is 
a  guarantee  that  the  region  of  the  knowable 
in  the  Spiritual  World  is  at  least  as  wide  as 
these  regions  of  the  Natural  World  which  by 
the  help  of  these  Laws  have  been  explored. 
No  doubt  also  there  yet  remain  some  Natural 
Laws  to  be  discovered,  and  these  in  time  may 
have  a  further  light  to  shed  on  the  spiritual 
field.  Then  we  may  know  all  that  is  ?  By.  no 
means.  We  may  only  know  all  that  may  be 
known.  And  that  may  be  very  little.  The 
Sovereign  Will  which  sways  the  sceptre  of  that 
invisible  empire  must  be  granted  a  right  of 
freedom — that  freedom  which  by  putting  it 


INTRODUCTION.  67 

into  our  wills  He  surely  teaches  us  to  honor 
in  His.  In  much  of  His  dealing  with  us  also, 
in  what  may  be  called  the  paternal  relation, 
there  may  seem  no  special  Law — no  Law  ex- 
cept the  highest  of  all,  that  Law  of  which  all 
other  Laws  are  parts,  that  Law  which  neither 
Nature  can  wholly  reflect  nor  the  mind  begin 
to  fathom — the  Law  of  Love.  He  adds  noth- 
ing to  that,  however,  who  loses  sight  of  all 
other  Laws  in  that,  nor  does  he  take  from  it 
who  finds  specific  Laws  everywhere  radiating 
from  it. 

With  regard  to  the  supposed  new  Laws  of 
the  Spiritual  World — those  Laws,  that  is, 
which  are  found  for  the  first  time  in  the  Spirit- 
ual World,  and  have  no  analogies  lower  down — 
there  is  this  to  be  said,  that  there  is  one  strong 
reason  against  exaggerating  either  their  num- 
ber or  importance — their  importance  at  least 
for  our  immediate  needs.  The  connection  be- 
tween language  and  the  Law  of  Continuity  has 
been  referred  to  incidentally  already.  It  is 
clear  that  we  can  only  express  the  Spiritual 
Laws  in  language  borrowed  from  the  visible 
universe.  Being  dependent  for  our  vocab- 
ulary on  images,  if  an  altogether  new  and 
foreign  set  of  Laws  existed  in  the  Spiritual 
World,  they  could  never  take  shape  as  definite 
ideas  from  mere  want  of  words.  The  hypo- 
thetical new  Laws  which  may  remain  to  be  dis- 
covered in  the  domain  of  Natural  or  Mental 
Science  may  afford  some  index  of  these  hypo- 
thetical higher  laws,  but  this  would  of  course 
mean  that  the  latter  were  no  longer  foreign 


68  INTRODUCTION. 

but  in  analogy,  or,  likelier  still,  identical.  If, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  Natural  Laws  of  the 
future  have  nothing  to  say  of  these  higher 
Laws,  what  can  be  said  of  them !  Where  is 
the  language  to  come  from  in  which  to  frame 
£hem?  If  their  disclosure  could  be  of  any 
practical  use  to  us,  we  may  be  sure  the  clue 
to  them,  the  revelation  of  them,  in  some  way 
would  have  been  put  into  Nature.  If,  on  the 
contrary,  they  are  not  to  be  of  immediate  use 
to  man,  it  is  better  they  should  not  embarrass 
him.  After  all,  then,  our  knowledge  of  higher 
Law  must  be  limited  by  our  knowledge  of  the 
lower.  The  Natural  Laws  as  at  present 
known,  whatever  additions  may  yet  be  made 
to  them,  give  a  fair  rendering  of  the  facts  of 
Nature.  And  their  analogies  or  their  pro- 
jections in  the  Spiritual  Sphere  may  also  be 
said  to  offer  a  fair  account  of  that  sphere,  or 
of  one  or  two  conspicuous  departments  of  it. 
The  time  has  come  for  that  account  to 
be  given.  The  greatest  among  the  theological 
Laws  are  the  Laws  of  Nature  in  disguise.  It 
will  be  the  splendid  task  of  the  theology  of  the 
future  to  take  off  the  mask  and  disclose  to 
a  waning  scepticism  the  naturalness  of  the 
supernatural. 

It  is  almost  singular  that  the  identification 
of  the  Laws  of  the  Spiritual  World  with  the 
Laws  of  Nature  should  so  long  have  escaped 
recognition.  For  apart  from  the  probability 
on  cl  priori  grounds,  it  is  involved  in  the  whole 
structure  of  Parable.  When  any  two  Phe- 
nomena in  the  two  spheres  are  seen  to  be  anal- 


INTRODUCTION.  69 

ogous,  the  parallelism  must  depend  upon  the 
fact  that  the  Laws  governing  them  are  not 
analogous  but  identical.  And  yet  this  basis 
for  Parable  seems  to  have  been  overlooked. 
Thus  Principal  Shairp  : — "  This  seeing  of 
Spiritual  truths  mirrored  in  the  face  of 
Nature  rests  not  on  any  fancied,  but  in  a  real 
analogy  between  the  natural  and  the  spiritual 
worlds.  They  are  in  some  sense  ichich  science 
has  not  ascertained,  but  which  the  vital  and  re- 
ligions imagination  can  perceive,  counterparts 
one  of  the  other."1  But  is  not  this  the  ex- 
planation, that  parallel  Phenomena  depend 
upon  identical  Laws  ?  It  is  a  question  indeed 
whether  one  can  speak  of  Laws  at  all  as  being 
analogous.  Phenomena  are  parallel,  Laws 
which  make  them  so  are  themselves  one. 

In  discussing  the  relations  of  the  Natural  and 
Spiritual  kingdom,  it  has  been  all  but  implied 
hitherto  that  the  Spiritual  Laws  were  framed 
originally  on  the  plan  of  the  Natural ;  and  the 
impression  one  might  receive  in  studying  the 
two  worlds  for  the  first  time  from  the  side 
of  analogy  would  naturally  be  that  the  lower 
world  was  formed  first,  as  a  kind  of  scaffolding 
on  which  the  higher  and  Spiritual  should  be 
afterwards  raised.  Now  the  exact  opposite  has 
been  the  case.  The  first  in  the  field  was  the 
Spiritual  World. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  reproduce  here  in 
detail  the  argument  which  has  been  stated 
recently  with  so  much  force  in  the  "  Unseen 

1  "Poetic  Interpretation  of  Nature,"  p.  115. 


70  INTE  OD  UCTION. 

Universe."  The  conclusion  of  that  work  re- 
mains still  unassailed,  that  the  visible  universe 
has  been  developed  from  the  unseen.  Apart 
from  the  general  proof  from  the  Law  of  Con- 
tinuity, the  more  special  grounds  of  such  a 
conclusion  are,  first,  the  fact  insisted  upon  by 
Herschel  and  Clerk- Maxwell  that  the  atoms  of 
which  the  visible  universe  is  built  up  bear  dis- 
tinct marks  of  being  manufactured  articles ; 
and,  secondly,  the  origin  in  time  of  the  visible 
universe  is  implied  from  known  facts  with  re- 
gard to  the  dissipation  of  energy.  With  the 
gradual  aggregation  of  mass  the  energy  of  the 
universe  has  been  slowly  disappearing,  and 
this  loss  of  energy  must  go  on  until  none 
remains.  There  is,  therefore,  a  point  in  time 
when  the  energy  of  the  universe  must  come  to 
an  end ;  and  that  which  has  its  end  in  time 
cannot  be  infinite,  it  must  also  have  had  a 
beginning  in  time.  Hence  the  unseen  existed 
before  the  seen. 

There  is  nothing  so  especially  exalted  there- 
fore in  the  Natural  Laws  in  themselves  as  to 
make  one  anxious  to  find  them  blood  relations  of 
the  Spiritual.  It  is  not  only  because  these  Laws 
are  on  the  ground,  more  accessible  therefore  to 
us  who  are  but  groundlings  ;  not  only,  as  the 
"  Unseen  Universe  "  points  out  in  another  con- 
nection, "  because  they  are  at  the  bottom  of  the 
list — are  in  fact  the  simplest  and  lowest — that 
they  are  capable  of  being  most  readily  grasped 
by  the  finite  intelligences  of  the  universe." J 

1  6th  Edition,  p.  235. 


INTRODUCTION.  71 

But  their  true  significance  lies  in  the  fact 
that  they  are  on  the  list  at  all,  and  especially 
in  that  the  list  is  the  same  list.  Their  dignity 
is  hot  as  Natural  Laws,  but  as  Spiritual  Laws, 
Laws  which,  as  already  said,  at  one  end  are  deal- 
ing with  Matter,  and  at  the  other  with  Spirit. 
"  The  physical  properties  of  matter  form  the 
alphabet  which  is  put  into  our  hands  by  God, 
the  study  of  which,  if  properly  conducted,  will 
enable  us  more  perfectly  to  read  that  great 
book  which  we  call  the  '  Universe.' " 1  But, 
over  and  above  this,  the  Natural  Laws  will  en- 
able us  to  read  that  great  duplicate  which  we 
call  the  "  Unseen  Universe,"  and  to  think  and 
live  in  fuller  harmony  with  it.  After  all,  the 
true  greatness  of  Law  lies  in  its  vision  of  the 
Unseen.  Law  in  the  visible  is  the  Invisible  in 
the  visible.  And  to  speak  of  Laws  as  Natural 
is  to  define  them  in  their  application  to  a  part 
of  the  universe,  the  sense-part,  whereas  a  wider 
survey  would  lead  us  to  regard  all  Law  as 
essentially  Spiritual.  To  magnify  the  Laws  of 
Nature,  as  Laws  of  thig  small  world  of  ours,  is 
to  take  a  provincial  view  of  the  universe.  Law 
is  great  not  because  the  phenomenal  world  is 
great,  but  because  these  vanishing  lines  are  the 
avenues  into  the  eternal  Order. 

"  Is  it  less  reverent  to  regard  the  universe 
as  an  illimitable  avenue  which  leads  up  to  God, 
than  to  look  upon  it  as  a  limited  area  bounded 
by  an  impenetrable  wall,  which,  if  we  could 
only  pierce  it,  would  admit  us  at  once  into  the 

1  6th  Edition,  p.  286. 


72  INTRODUCTION. 

presence  of  the  Eternal  ?  "  l  Indeed  the  authors 
of  the  "  Unseen  Universe  "  demur  even  to  the 
expression  material  universe,  since,  as  they  tell 
us  "  Matter  is  (though  it  may  seem  paradoxical 
to  say  so)  the  less  important  half  of  the 
material  of  the  physical  universe."  2  And  even 
Mr.  Huxley,  though  in  a  different  sense,  as- 
sures us,  with  Descartes,  "  that  we  know  more 
of  mind  than  we  do  of  body  ;  that  the  im- 
material world  is  a  firmer  reality  than  the 
material."  8 

How  the  priority  of  the  Spiritual  improves 
the  strength  and  meaning  of  the  whole  argu- 
ment will  be  seen  at  once.  The  lines  of  the 
Spiritual  existed  first,  and  it  was  natural  to 
expect  that  when  the  "Intelligence  resident 
in  the  '  Unseen ':>  proceeded  to  frame  the 
material  universe  He  should  go  upon  the  lines 
already  laid  down.  He  would,  in  short,  simply 
project  the  higher  Laws  downward,  so  that  the 
Natural  World  would  become  an  incarnation, 
a  visible  representation,  a  working  model  of 
the  Spiritual.  The  whole  function  of  the 
material  world  lies  here.  The  world  is  only 
a  thing  that  is;  it  is  not.  It  is  a  thing  that 
teaches,  yet  not  even  a  thing — a  show  that 
shows,  a  teaching  shadow.  However  useless 
the  demonstration  otherwise,  philosophy  does 
well  in  proving  that  matter  is  a  non-entity. 
We  work  with  it  as  the  mathematician  with  an 
«.  The  reality  is  alone  the  Spiritual.  "  It  is 

i  "  Unseen  Universe,"  p.  96.  2  Ibid.,  p.  100. 

8  "  Science  and  Culture,"  p.  259." 


INTRODUCTION.  73 

very  well  for  physicists  to  speak  of  *  matter,' 
but  for  men  generally  to  call  this  '  a  material 
world  '  is  an  absurdity.  Should  we  call  it  an 
x- world  it  would  mean  as  much,  viz.,  that  we 
do  not  know  what  it  is."  *  When  shall  we 
learn  the  true  mysticism  of  one  who  was  yet 
far  from  being  a  mystic — "  We  look  not  at  the 
things  which  are  seen,  but  at  the  things  which 
are  not  seen  ;  for  the  things  which  are  seen 
are  temporal,  but  the  things  which  are  not 
seen  are  eternal  ?  "  2  The  visible  is  the  ladder 
up  to  the  invisible  ;  the  temporal  is  but  the 
scaffolding  of  the  eternal.  And  when  the  last 
immaterial  souls  have  climbed  through  this 
material  to  God,  the  scaffolding  shall  be  taken 
down,  and  the  earth  dissolved  with  fervent 
heat-— not  because  it  was  base,  but  because  its 
work  is  done. 

iHinton's  "  PMlosophy  and  Religion,"  p.  40. 
.  18. 


BIOGENESIS. 


"  "What  we  require  is  no  new  Revelation,  but  simply 
an  adequate  conception  of  the  true  essence  of  Christi- 
anity. And  I  believe  that,  as  time  goes  on,  the  work 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  will  be  continuously  shown  in  the 
gradual  insight  which  the  human  race  will  attain  into 
the  true  essence  of  the  Christian  religion.  I  am  thus 
of  opinion  that  a  standing  miracle  exists,  and  that  it 
has  ever  existed — a  direct  and  continued  influence 
exerted  by  the  supernatural  on  the  natural." 

PARADOXICAL  PHILOSOPHY. 


BIOGENESIS. 

«*  He  that  hath  the  Son  hath  Life,  and  he  that  hath 
Hot  the  Son  of  God  hath  not  Life." — John. 
"Omne  vivum  ex  vivo." — Harvey. 

FOB  two  hundred  years  the  scientific  world 
has  been  rent  with  discussions  upon  the  Origin 
of  Life.  Two  great  schools  have  defended 
exactly  opposite  views — one  that  matter  can 
spontaneously  generate  life,  the  other  that  life 
can  only  come  from  pre-existing  life.  The 
doctrine  of  Spontaneous  Generation,  as  the 
first  is  called,  has  been  revived  within  recent 
years  by  Dr.  Bastian,  after  a  series  of  elaborate 
experiments  on  the  Beginnings  of  Life.  Stated 
in  his  own  words,  his  conclusion  is  this  : 
"Both  observation  and  experiment  unmistak- 
ably testify  to  the  fact  that  living  matter  is  con- 
tantly  being  formed  de  novo,  in  ohedience  to 
the  same  laws  and  tendencies  which  determine 
all  the  more  simple  chemical  combinations."  1 
Life,  that  is  to  say,  is  not  the  Gift  of  Life.  It 
is  capable  of  springing  into  being  of  itself.  It 
can  be  Spontaneously  Generated. 

1  "  Beginnings  of  Life."  By  H.  C.  Bastian,  M.  A., 
M.D.,  F.R.S.  Macmillan,  vol.  ii.  p.  633. 

77 


78  BIOGENESIS. 

This  announcement  called  into  the  field  a 
phalanx  of  observers,  and  the  highest  author- 
ities in  biological  science  engaged  themselves 
afresh  upon  the  problem.  The  experiments 
necessary  to  test  the  matter  can  be  followed 
or  repeated  by  any  one  possessing  the  slightest 
manipulative  skill.  Glass  vessels  are  three- 
parts  filled  with  infusions  of  hay  or  any 
organic  matter.  They  are  boiled  to  kill  all 
germs  of  life,  and  hermetically  sealed  to  exclude 
the  outer  air.  The  air  inside,  having  been 
exposed  to  the  boiling  temperature  for  many 
hours,  is  supposed  to  be  likewise  dead;  so 
that  any  life  which  may  subsequently  appear 
in  the  closed  flasks  must  have  sprung  into  be- 
ing of  itself.  In  Bastian's  experiments  after 
every  expedient  to  secure  sterility,  life  did 
appear  inside  in  myriad  quantity.  Therefore, 
he  argued,  it  was  spontaneously  generated. 

But  the  phalanx  of  observers  found  two 
errors  in  this  calculation.  Professor  Tyndall 
repeated  the  same  experiment,  only  with  a 
precaution  to  ensure  absolute  sterility  sug- 
gested by  the  most  recent  science — a  discovery 
of  his  own.  After  every  care,  he  conceived, 
there  might  still  be  undestroyed  germs  in  the 
air  inside  the  flasks.  If  the  air  were  absolutely 
germless  and  pure,  would  the  myriad  life 
appear  ?  He  manipulated  his  experimental 
vessels  in  an  atmosphere  which  under  the  high 
test  of  optical  purity — the  most  delicate  known 
test — was  absolutely  germless.  Here  not  a 
vestige  of  life  appeared.  He  varied  the  experi- 


BIOGENESIS.  79 

ment  in  every  direction,  but  matter  in  the 
germless  air  never  yielded  life. 

The  other  error  was  detected  by  Mr.  Dal- 
lihger.  He  found  among  the  lower  forms  of 
life  the  most  surprising  and  indestructible 
vitality.  Many  animals  could  survive  much 
higher  temperatures  .than  Dr.  Bastian  had 
applied  to  annihilate  them.  Some  germs 
almost  refused  to  be  annihilated — they  were 
all  but  fire-proof. 

These  experiments  have  practically  closed 
the  question.  A  decided  and  authoritative 
conclusion  has  now  taken  its  place  in  science. 
So  far  as  science  can  settle  anything,  this  ques- 
tion is  settled.  The  attempt  to  get  the  living 
out  of  the  dead  has  failed.  Spontaneous 
Generation  has  had  to  be  given  up.  And  it 
is  now  recognized  on  every  hand  that  Life  can 
only  come  from  the  touch  of  Life.  Huxley 
categorically  announces  that  the  doctrine  of 
Biogenesis,  or  life  only  from  life,  is  "victo- 
rious along  the  whole  line  at  the  present  day."  * 
And  even  whilst  confessing  that  he  wishes  the 
evidence  were  the  other  way,  Tyndall  is  com- 
pelled to  say,  "  I  affirm  that  no  shred  of  trust- 
worthy experimental  testimony  exists  to  prove 
that  life  in  our  day  has  ever  appeared  inde- 
pendently of  antecedent  life."  a 

For  much  more  than  two  hundred  years  a 
similar  discussion  has  dragged  its  length 
through  the  religious  world.  Two  great  schools 

1 "  Critiques  and  Addresses."      T.  H.  Huxley,  F.  E.  S., 

p.  239.  2  Nineteenth  Century,  1878,  p.  507. 


80  BIOGENESIS. 

here  also  have  defended  exactly  opposite  views 
— one  that  the  Spiritual  Life  in  man  can  only 
come  from  pre-existing  Life,  the  other  that  it 
can  Spontaneously  Generate  itself.  Taking 
its  stand  upon  the  initial  statement  of  the 
Author  of  the  Spiritual  Life,  one  small  school, 
in  the  face  of  derision  and  opposition,  has 
persistently  maintained  the  doctrine  of  Bio- 
genesis. Another,  larger  and  with  greater  pre- 
tension to  philosophic  form,  has  defended 
Spontaneous  Generation.  The  weakness  of  the 
former  school  consists — though  this  has  been 
much  exaggerated — in  its  more  or  less  general 
adherence  to  the  extreme  view  that  religion 
had  nothing  to  do  with  the  natural  life ;  the 
weakness  of  the  latter  lay  in  yielding  to  the 
more  fatal  extreme  that  it  had  nothing  to  do 
with  anything  else.  That  man,  being  a  wor- 
shipping animal  by  nature,  ought  to  maintain 
certain  relations  to  the  Supreme  Being,  was 
indeed  to  some  extent  conceded  by  the  natu- 
ralistic school,  but  religion  itself  was  looked 
upon  as  a  thing  to  be  spontaneously  generated 
by  the  evolution  of  character  in  the  laboratory 
of  common  life. 

The  difference  between  the  two  positions  is 
radical.  Translating  from  the  language  of 
Science  into  that  of  Religion,  the  theory  of 
Spontaneous  Generation  is  simply  that  a  man 
may  become  gradually  better  and  better  until 
in  course  of  the  process  he  reaches  that  quality 
of  religious  nature  known  as  Spiritual  Law. 
This  Life  is  not  something  added  ab  extra  to 
the  natural  man  ;  it  is  the  normal  and  appro- 


BIOGENESIS.  81 

priate  development  of  the  natural  man.  Bio- 
genesis opposes  to  this  the  whole  doctrine  of 
Regeneration.  The  Spiritual  Life  is  the  gift 
of  the  Living  Spirit.  The  spiritual  man  is  no 
mere  development  of  the  natural  man.  He  is 
a  New  Creation  born  from  Above.  As  well 
expect  a  hay  infusion  to  become  gradually 
more  and  more  living  until  in  course  of  the 
process  it  reached  Vitality,  as  expect  a  man  by 
becoming  better  and  better  to  attain  the  Eter- 
nal Life. 

The  advocates  of  Biogenesis  in  Religion  have 
founded  their  argument  hitherto  all  but  ex- 
clusively on  Scripture.  The  relation  of  the 
doctrine  to  the  constitution  and  course  of 
Nature  was  not  disclosed.  Its  importance, 
therefore,  was  solely  as  a  dogma  ;  and  being 
directly  concerned  with  the  Supernatural,  it 
was  valid  for  those  alone  who  chose  to  accept 
the  Supernatural. 

Yet  it  has  been  keenly  felt  by  those  who 
attempt  to  defend  this  doctrine  of  the  origin  of 
the  Spiritual  Life,  that  they  have  nothing  more 
to  oppose  to  the  rationalistic  view  than  the 
ipse  dixit  of  Revelation.  The  argument  from 
experience,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  is  seldom 
easy  to  apply,  and  Christianity  has  always 
found  at  this  point  a  genuine  difficulty  in  meet- 
ing the  challenge  of  Natural  Religions.  The 
direct  authority  of  Nature,  using  Nature  in  its 
limited  sense,  was  not  here  to  be  sought  for. 
On  such  a  question  its  voice  was  necessarily 
silent ;  and  all  that  the  apologist  could  look 
for  lower  down  was  a  distant  echo  or  analogy. 
6 


:B2  BIOGENESIS. 

All  that  is  really  possible,  indeed,  is  such  an 
analogy  ;  arid  if  that  can  now  be  found  in 
Biogenesis,  Christianity  in  its  most  central  posi- 
tion secures  at  length  a  support  and  basis  in 
the  Laws  of  Nature. 

Up  to  the  present  time  the  analogy  required 
has  not  been  forthcoming.  There  was  no 
known  parallel  in  Nature  for  the  spiritual 
phenomena  in  question.  But  now  the  case  is 
altered.  With  the  elevation  of  Biogenesis  to 
the  rank  of  a  scientific  fact,  all  problems  con- 
cerning the  Origin  of  Life  are  placed  on  a  differ- 
ent footing.  And  it  remains  to  be  seen  whether 
Religion  cannot  at  once  re-affirm  and  reshape 
its  argument  in  the  light  of  this  modern  truth. 

If  the  doctrine  of  the  Spontaneous  Genera- 
tion of  Spiritual  Life  can  be  met  on  scientific 
/grounds,  it  will  mean  the  removal  of  the  most 
serious  enemy  Christianity  has  to  deal  with, 
.and  especially  within  its  own  borders,  at  the 
present  day.  The  religion  of  Jesus  has  prob- 
;aMy  always  suffered  more  from  those  who 
have  misunderstood  than  from  those  who  have 
opposed  it.  Of  the  multitudes  who  confess 
Christianity  at  this  hour  how  many  have  clear 
in  their  minds  the  cardinal  distinction  estab- 
lished by  its  Founder  between  "born  of  the 
flesh  "and  "born  of  the  Spirit?"  By  how 
many  teachers  of  Christianity  even  is  not  this 
fundamental  postulate  persistently  ignored? 
A  thousand  modern  pulpits  every  seventh  day 
.-are  preaching  the  doctrine  of  Spontaneous 
-Generation.  The  finest  and  best  of  recent 
poetry  is  colored  with  this  same  error.  Spon« 


BIOGENESIS.  g£ 

taneous  Generation  is  the  leading  theology  of 
the  modern  religious  or  irreligious  novel ;  and. 
much  of  the  most  serious  and  cultured  writ- 
ing of  the  day  devotes  itself  to  earnest  preaefr- 
ing  of  this  impossible  gospel.  The  current 
conception  of  the  Christian  religion  in  short — 
the  conception  which  is  held  not  only  popularly 
but  l>y  men  of  culture — is  founded  upon  a  view 
of  its  origin  which,  if  it  were  true,  would  ren- 
der the  whole  scheme  abortive. 

Let  us  first  place  vividly  in  our  imaginatioiL 
the  picture  of  the  two  great  Kingdoms  of  Na- 
ture, the  inorganic  and  organic,  as  these  now 
stand  in  the  light  of  the  Law  of  Biogenesis-. 
What  essentially  is  involved  in  saying  that 
there  is  no  Spontaneous  Generation  of  Life  t1 
It  is  meant  that  the  passage  from  the  raineraL 
world  to  the  plant  or  animal  world  is  hermet- 
ically sealed  on  the  mineral  side.  This  in- 
organic world  is  staked  off  from  the  living, 
world  by  barriers  which  have  never  yet  been 
crossed  from  within.  No  change  of  substance,, 
no  modification  of  environment,  no  chemistry, 
no  electricity,  nor  any  form  of  energy,  nor  any 
evolution  can  endow  any  single  atom  of  the* 
mineral  world  with  the  attribute  of  Life.  Onfy 
by  bending  down  into  this  dead  world  of  som& 
living  form  can  these  dead  atoms  be  gifted 
with  the  properties  of  vitality,  without  this 
preliminary  contact  with  Life  they  remain 
fixed  iu  the  inorganic  sphere  forever.  It  is  a 
very  mysterious  Law  which  guards  in  this:- 
way  the  portals  of  the  living  world.  And  if 
there  is  one  thing  in  Nature  more  worth 


84  BIOGENESIS. 

dering  for  its  strangeness  it  is  the  spectacle  of 
this  vast  helpless  world  of  the  dead  cut  off 
from  the  living  by  the  Law  of  Biogenesis  and 
denied  forever  the  possibility  of  resurrection 
within  itself.  So  very  strange  a  thing,  indeed, 
3s  this  broad  line  in  Nature,  that  Science  has 
long  and  urgently  sought  to  obliterate  it.  Bio- 
genesis stands  in  the  way  of  some  forms  of 
Evolution  with  such  stern  persistency  that  the 
assaults  upon  this  Law  for  number  and  thor- 
oughness have  been  unparalleled.  But,  as  we 
have  seen,  it  has  stood  the  test.  Nature,  to 
the  modern  eye,  stands  broken  in  two.  The 
physical  Laws  may  explain  the  inorganic 
world  ;  the  biological  Laws  may  account  for  tjie 
development  of  the  organic.  But  of  the  point 
where  they  meet,  of  that  strange  borderland 
between  the  dead  and  the  living,  Science  is  si- 
lent. It  is  as  if  God  had  placed  everything  in 
earth  and  heaven  in  the  hands  of  Xature,  but 
reserved  a  point  at  the  genesis  of  Life  for  His 
direct  appearing. 

The  power  of  the  analogy,  for  which  we  are 
laying  the  foundations,  to  seize  and  impress 
the  mind,  will  largely  depend  on  the  vividness 
with  which  one  realizes  the  gulf  which  Xature 
places  between  the  living  and  the  dead.1  But 


1  This  being  the  crucial  point  it  may  not  be  inappro- 
priate to  supplement  the  quotations  already  given  in  the 
text  with  the  following: — 

"We  are  in  the  presence  of  the  one  incommunicable 
gulf — the  gulf  of  all  gulfs — that  gulf  which  Mr.  Hux- 
ley's protoplasm  is  as  powerless  to  efface  as  any  other 
material  expedient  that  has  ever  been  suggested  since 


BIOGENESIS.  85 

those  who,  in  contemplating  Nature,  have 
found  their  attention  arrested  by  this  extraor- 
dinary dividing-line  severing  the  visible  uni- 
verse eternally  into  two ;  those  who  in  watch- 
ing the  progress  of  science  have  seen  barrier 
after  barrier  disappear — barrier  between  plant 
and  plant,  between  animal  and  animal,  and  even 
between  animal  and  plant — but  this  gulf  yawn 
more  hopelessly  wide  with  every  advance  of 
knowledge,  will  be  prepared  to  attach  a  signifi- 
cance to  the  Law  of  Biogenesis  and  its  analogies 
more  profound  perhaps  than  to  any  other  fact 
or  law  in  Nature.  If,  as  Pascal  says,  Nature 
is  an  image  of  grace ;  if  the  things  that  are 
seen  are  in  any  sense  the  images  of  the  un- 
seen, there  must  lie  in  this  great  gulf  fixed, 
this  most  unique  and  startling  of  all  natural 
phenomena,  a  meaning  of  peculiar  moment. 


the  eyes  of  men  first  looked  into  it — the  mighty  gulf 
between  death  and  life." — "As  Regards  Protoplasm." 
By  J.  Hutchinson  Sterling,  LL.D.,  p.  42. 

"  The  present  state  of  knowledge  furnishes  us  with 
no  link  between  the  living  and  the  not-living." — Hux- 
ley, "Encyclopaedia  Britaunica"  (new  Ed.).  Art. 
"Biology." 

"  Whoever  recalls  to  mind  the  lamentable  failure  of 
all  the  attempts  made  very  recently  to  discover  a  de- 
cided support  for  the  generatio  cequivoca  in  the  lower 
forms  of  transition  from  the  inorganic  to  the  organic 
world,  will  feel  it  doubly  serious  to  demand  that  this 
theory,  so  utterly  discredited,  should  be  in  any  way  ac- 
cepted as  the  basis  of  all  our  views  of  life." — Virchow  : 
"  The  Freedom  of  Science  in  the  Modern  State."  "  All 
really  scientific  experience  tells  us  that  life  can  be  pro- 
duced from  a  living  antecedent  only." — "  The  Unseen 
Universe."  6th  Ed.  p.  229. 


$6  BIOGENESIS. 

Where  now  in  the  Spiritual  spheres  shall  we 
meet  a  companion  phenomenon  to  this  ?  What 
iu  the  Unseen  shall  be  likened  this  deep  divid- 
ing-line, or  where  in  human  experience  is  an- 
other barrier  which  never  can  be  crossed  ? 

'There  is  such  a  barrier.  In  the  dim  but  not 
inadequate  vision  of  the  Spiritual  "World  pre- 
sented in  the  Word  of  God,  the  first  thing  that 
strikes  the  eye  is  a  great  gulf  fixed.  The  pass- 
age from  the  Natural  World  to  the  Spiritual 
World  is  hermetically  sealed  on  the  natural 
side.  The  door  from  the  inorganic  to  the  or- 
.ganic  is  shut,  no  mineral  can  open  it;  so  the 
door  from  the  natural  to  the  spiritual  is  shut, 
a,nd  no  man  can  open  it.  This  world  of 
natural  men  is  staked  off  from  the  Spiritual 
World  by  barriers  which  have  never  yet  been 
crossed  from  within.  Xo  organic  change,  no 
modification  of  environment,  no  mental  energy, 
no  moral  effort,  no  evolution  of  character,  no 
progress  of  civilization  can  endow  any  single 
liuman  soul  with  the  attribute  of  Spiritual 
ILife.  The  Spiritual  World  is  guarded  from 
the  world  next  in  order  beneath  it  by  a  law  of 
^Biogenesis — except  a  man  be  born  ay  a  in  .  .  . 
isccept  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit, 
he  cannot  enter  the  Einydon>  of  God. 

It  is  not  said  in  this  enunciation  of  the  law, 
iiiat  if  the  condition  be  not  fulfilled  the  natural 
man  will  not  enter  the  Kingdom  of  God.  The 
word  is  cannot.  For  the  exclusion  of  the 
spiritually  inorganic  from  the  Kingdom  of  the 
spiritually  organic  is  not  arbitrary.  Xor  is  the 
?.iatural  man  refused  admission  on  unexplained 


BIOGENESIS.  8T 

grounds.  His  admission  is  a  scientific  impos- 
sibility. Except  a  mineral  be  born  "  from, 
above  " — from  the  Kingdom  just  above  it — it 
cannot  enter  the  Kingdom  just  above  it.  And 
except  a  man  be  born  "  from  above,"  by  the  same 
law,  he  cannot  enter  the  Kingdom  just  above 
him.  There  being  no  passage  from  one  King- 
dom to  another,  whether  from  inorganic  to  or- 
ganic, or  from  organic  to  spiritual,  the  inter- 
vention of  Life  is  a  scientific  necessity  if  % 
stone  or  a  plant  or  an  animal  or  a  man  is  to  pass 
from  a  lower  to  a  higher  sphere.  The  plant 
stretches  down  to  the  dead  world  beneath  it, 
touches  its  minerals  and  gases  with  its  mystery 
of  Life,  and  brings  them  up  ennobled  and. 
transformed  to  the  living  sphere.  The  breath: 
of  God,  blowing  where  it  listeth,  touches  with 
its  mystery  of  Life  the  dead  souls  of  men, 
bears  them  across  the  bridgeless  gulf  between, 
the  natural  and  the  spiritual,  between  the  spir- 
itually inorganic  and  the  spiritually  organi^ 
endows  them  with  its  own  high  qualities,  and. 
develops  within  them  these  new  and  secret 
faculties,  bv  which  those  who  are  born  aintin 

'  */  C7 

are  said  to  see  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

What  is  the  evidence  for  this  great  gulf 
fixed  at  the  portals  of  the  Spiritual  World? 
Does  Science  close  this  gate,  or  Reason,  or 
Experience,  or  Revelation?  We  reply,  fill 
four.  The  initial  statement,  it  is  not  to  be- 
denied,  reaches  us  from  Revelation.  But  is- 
not  this  evidence  here  in  court  ?  Or  shall  it 
be  said  that  any  argument  deduced  from  this 
is  a  transparent  circle — that  after  all  we  simply 


88  BIOGENESIS. 

come  back  to  the  unsubstantiality  of  the  ipss 
dfait.  Not  altogether,  for  the  analogy  lends  an 
altogether  new  authority  to  the  ipse  dixit. 
How  substantial  that  argument  really  is,  is 
seldom  realized.  We  yield  the  point  here 
much  too  easily.  The  right  of  the  Spirit- 
ual World  to  speak  of  its  own  phenomena  is 
as  secure  as  the  right  of  the  Natural  World  to 
speak  of  itself.  What  is  Science  but  what  the 
Natural  World  has  said  to  natural  men : 
What  is  Revelation  but  what  the  Spiritual 
World  has  said  to  Spiritual  men?  Let  us  at 
least  ask  what  Revelation  has  announced  with 
reference  to  the  Spiritual  Law  of  Biogenesis  ; 
afterwards  we  shall  inquire  whether  Science, 
while  endorsing  the  verdict,  may  not  also  have 
some  further  vindication  of  its  title  to  be 
heard. 

The  words  of  Scripture  which  preface  this 
inquiry  contain  an  explicit  and  original  state- 
ment of  the  Law  of  Biogenesis  for  the  Spiritual 
Life.  "  He  that  hath  the  Son  hath  Life,  and 
he  that  hath  not  the  Son  of  God  hath  not 
Life."  Life,  that  is  to  say,  depends  upon  con- 
tact with  Life.  It  cannot  spring  up  of  itself. 
It  cannot  develop  out  of  anything  that  is  not 
Life.  There  is  no  Spontaneous  Generation  hi 
religion  any  more  than  in  Nature.  Christ  is 
the  source  of  Life  in  the  Spiritual  World  ;  and 
he  that  hath  the  Son  hath  Life,  and  he  that 
hath  not  the  Son,  whatever  else  he  may  have, 
hath  not  Life.  Here,  in  short,  is  the  categori- 
cal denial  of  Abiogenesis  and  the  establishment 
in  this  high  field  of  the  classical  formula 


BIOGENESIS.  89 

Omne  mvum  ex  vivo — no  Life  without  an- 
tecedent Life.  In  this  mystical  theory  of  the 
Origin  of  Life  the  whole  of  the  New  Testament 
writers  are  agreed.  And,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  Christ  Himself  founds  Christianity  upon 
Biogenesis  stated  in  its  most  literal"  form. 
"  Except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  of  the 
Spirit  he  cannot  enter  into  the  Kingdom  oi 
God.  That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh  ; 
and  that  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit  is  Spirit. 
Marvel  not  that  I  said  unto  you,  ye  must  be 
born  again."  1  Why  did  He  add  Marvel  not? 
Did  He  seek  to  allay  the  fear  in  the  bewildered 
ruler's  mind  that  there  was  more  in  this  novel 
doctrine  than  a  simple  analogy  from  the  first 
to  the  second  birth  ? 

The  attitude  of  the  natural  man,  again,  with 
reference  to  the  Spiritual,  is  a  subject  on  which 
the  New  Testament  is  equally  pronounced. 
Not  only  in  his  relation  to  the  spiritual  man, 
but  to  the  whole  Spiritual  World,  the  natural 
man  is  regarded  as  dead.  He  is  as  a  crystal 
to  an  organism.  The  natural  world  is  to  the 
Spiritual  as  the  inorganic  to  the  organic.  "  To 
be  carnally  minded  is  Death.'"  2  "  Thou  hast  a 
name  to  live,  but  art  Dead."  8  "  She  that 
liveth  in  pleasure  is  Dead  while  she  liveth."  * 
"  To  you  hath  He  given  Life  which  were  Dead 
in  trespasses  and  sins."  s 

It  is  clear  that  a  remarkable  harmony  exists 
here  between  the  Organic  World  as  arranged 

1  John  iii.  2  Rom.  viii.  6.  8  Rev.  iii.  1. 

*  1  Tim.  v.  6.      6  Eph.  ii.  1,  5. 


90  BIOGENESIS. 

by  Science  and  the  Spiritual  World  as  arranged 
by  Scripture.  We  find  one  great  Law  guarding 
the  thresholds  of  both  worlds,  securing  that 
entrance  from  a  lower  sphere  shall  only  take 
place  by  a  direct  regenerating  act,  and  that 
emanating  from  the  world  next  in  order  above. 
There  are  not  two  laws  of  Biogenesis,  one  for 
the  natural,  the  other  for  the  Spiritual ;  one 
law  is  for  both.  Wherever  there  is  Life,  Life 
of  any  kind,  this  same  law  holds.  The  an- 
alogy, therefore,  is  only  among  the  phenomena ; 
between  laws  there  is  no  analogy — there  is 
Continuity.  In  either  case,  the  first  step  in 
peopling  these  worlds  with  the  appropriate 
living  forms  is  virtually  miracle.  Nor  in  one 
case  is  there  less  of  mystery  in  the  act  than  in 
the  other.  The  second  birth  is  scarcely  less 
perplexing  to  the  theologian  than  the  first  to 
the  einbryologist. 

A  moment's  reflection  ought  now  to  make 
it  clear  why  in  the  Spiritual  World  there  had 
to  be  added  to  this  mystery  the  further  mys- 
tery of  its  proclamation  through  the  medium 
of  Revelation.  This  is  the  point  at  which  the 
scientific  man  is  apt  to  part  company  with  the 
theologian.  He  insists  on  having  all  things 
materialized  before  his  eyes  in  Nature.  If 
Nature  cannot  discuss  this  with  him,  there  is 
nothing  to  discuss.  But  Nature  can  discuss 
this  with  him — only  she  cannot  open  the  dis- 
cussion or  supply  all  the  material  to  begin 
with.  If  Science  averred  that  she  could  do 
this,  the  theologian  this  time  must  part  com- 
pany with  such  Science.  For  any  Science 


BIOGENESIS.  91 

which  makes  such  a  demand  is  false  to  the 
doctrines  of  Biogenesis.  What  is  this  but  the 
demand  that  a  lower  world,  hermetically  sealed 
against  all  communication  with  a  world  above 
it,  should  have  a  mature  and  intelligent  ac- 
quaintance with  its  phenomena  and  laws  ? 
Can  the  mineral  discourse  to  me  of  animal 
Life?  Can  it  tell  me  what  lies  beyond  the 
narrow  boundary  of  its  inert  being?  Know- 
ing nothing  of  other  than  the  chemical  and 
physical  laws,  what  is  its  criticism  worth  of 
the  principles  of  Biology?  And  even  when 
some  visitor  from  the  upper  world,  for  example 
some  root  from  a  living  tree,  penetrating  its 
dark  recess,  honors  it  with  a  touch,  will  it 
presume  to  define  the  form  and  purpose  of  its 
patron,  or  until  the  bioplasm  has  done  its  gra- 
cious work  can  it  even  know  that  it  is  being 
touched?  The  barrier  which  separates  King- 
doms from  one  another  restricts  mind  not  less 
than  matter.  Any  information  of  the  King- 
doms above  it  that  could  come  to  the  mineral 
world  could  only  come  by  a  communication 
from  above.  An  analogy  from  the  lower  world 
might  make  such  communication  intelligible 
as  well  as  credible,  but  the  information  in  the 
first  instance  must  be  vouchsafed  as  a  revela- 
tion. Similarly  if  those  in  the  Organic  King- 
dom are  to  know  anything  of  the  Spiritual 
World,  that  knowledge  must  at  least  begin  as 
Revelation.  Men  who  reject  this  source  of 
information,  by  the  Law  of  Biogenesis,  can 
have  no  other.  It  is  no  spell  of  ignorance 
arbitrarily  laid  upon  certain  members  of  the 


92  BIOGENESIS. 

Organic  Kingdom  that  prevents  them  reading 
the  secrets  of  the  Spiritual  World.  It  is  a 
scientific  necessity.  No  exposition  of  the  case 
could  be  more  truly  scientific  than  this  :  "  The 
natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the 
Spirit  of  God;  for  they  are  foolishness  unto 
him  :  neither  can  he  know  them,  because  they 
are  spiritually  discerned." *  The  verb  here, 
it  will  be  again  observed,  is  potential.  This 
is  not  a  dogma  of  theology,  but  a  necessity  of 
Science.  And  Science,  for  the  most  part,  has 
consistently  accepted  the  situation.  It  has 
always  proclaimed  its  ignorance  of  the  Spir- 
itual World.  When  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer 
affirms,  "Regarding  Science  as  a  gradually 
increasing  sphere  we  may  say  that  every  addi- 
tion to  its  surface  does  but  bring  it  into  wider 
contact  with  surrounding  nescience,"  2  from 
his  standpoint  he  is  quite  correct.  The  en- 
deavors of  well-meaning  persons  to  show  that 
the  Agnostic's  position,  when  he  asserts  his 
ignorance  of  the  Spiritual  World,  is  only  a 
pretence ;  the  attempts  to  prove  that  he  really 
knows  a  great  deal  about  it  if  he  would  only 
admit  it,  are  quite  misplaced.  He  really  does 
not  know.  The  verdict  that  the  natural  man 
receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God, 
that  they  are  foolishness  unto  him,  that  neither 
can  he  know  them,  is  final  as  a  statement  of 
scientific  truth — a  statement  on  which  the 
entire  Agnostic  literature  is  simply  one  long 
commentary. 

1 1  Cor.  If.  14 

*  "  First  Principles,"  2d  Ed.  p.  17. 


BIOGENESIS.  93 

We  are  now  in  a  better  position  to  follow 
out  the  more  practical  bearings  of  Biogenesis. 
There  is  an  immense  region  surrounding 
Regeneration,  a  dark  and  perplexing  region 
where  men  would  be  thankful  for  any  light. 
It  may  well  be  that  Biogenesis  in  its  many 
ramifications  may  yet  reach  down  to  some  of 
the  deeper  mysteries  of  the  Spiritual  Life. 
But  meantime  there  is  much  to  define  even  on 
the  surface.  And  for  the  present  we  shall 
content  ourselves  by  turning  its  light  upon 
one  or  two  points  of  current  interest. 

It  must  long  ago  have  appeared  how  decisive 
is  the  answer  of  Science  to  the  practical  ques- 
tion with  which  we  set  out  as  to  the  possi- 
bility of  a  Spontaneous  Development  of  Spir- 
itual Life  in  the  individual  soul.  The  inquiry 
into  the  Origin  of  Life  is  the  fundamental 
question  alike  of  Biology  and  Christianity. 
We  can  afford  to  enlarge  upon  it,  therefore, 
even  at  the  risk  of  repetition.  When  men  are 
offering  us  a  Christianity  without  a  living 
Spirit,  and  a  personal  religion  without  conver- 
sion, no  emphasis  or  reiteration  can  be  extreme. 
Besides,  the  clearness  as  well  as  the  definite- 
ness  of  the  Testimony  of  Nature  to  any  Spir- 
itual truth  is  of  immense  importance.  Re- 
generation has  not  merely  been  an  outstand- 
ing difficulty,  but  an  overwhelming  obscurity. 
Even  to  earnest  minds  the  difficulty  of  grasp- 
ing the  truth  at  all  has  always  proved  extreme. 
Philosophically  one  scarcely  sees  either  the 
necessity  or  the  possibility  of  being  born 
again.  Why  a  virtuous  man  should  not 


9i  BIOGENESIS. 

simply  grow  better  and  better  until  in  his 
own  right  lie  enter  the  Kingdom  of  God  is 
what  thousands  honestly  and  sincerely  fail  to 
understand.  Now  Philosophy  cannot  help  us 
here.  Her  arguments  are,  if  anything,  against 
us.  But  Science  answers  to  the  appeal  at 
once.  If  it  be  simply  pointed  out  that  this  is 
the  same  absurdity  as  to  ask  why  a  stone 
should  not  grow  more  and  more  living  till  it 
enters  the  Organic  World,  the  point  is  clear 
in  an  instant. 

"What  now,  let  us  ask  specifically,  dis- 
tinguishes a  Christian  man  from  a  non- 
Christian  man?  Is  it  that  he  has  certain 
mental  characteristics  not  possessed  by  the 
other  ?  Is  it  that  certain  faculties  have  been 
trained  in  him,  that  morality  assumes  special 
and  higher  manifestations,  and  character  a 
nobler  form  ?  Is  the  Christian  merely  an 
ordinary  man  who  happens  from  birth  to  have 
been  surrounded  with  a  peculiar  set  of  ideas  ? 
Is  his  religion  merely  that  peculiar  quality  of 
the  moral  life  defined  by  Mr.  Matthew  Arnold 
as  "  morality  touched  by  emotion  ?  "  And  does- 
the  possession  of  a  high  ideal,  benevolent 
sympathies,  a  reverent  spirit,  and  a  favorable 
environment  account  for  what  men  call  his 
Spiritual  Life  ? 

The  distinction  between  them  is  the  same  as 
that  between  the  Organic  and  the  Inorganic, 
the  living  and  the  dead.  What  is  the  differ- 
ence between  a  crystal  and  an  organism,  a 
stone  and  a  plant  ?  They  have  much  in  com- 
mon. Both  are  made  of  the  same  atoms.. 


BIOGENESIS.  95 

Both  display  the  same  properties  of  matter. 
Both  tire  subject  to  the  Physical  Laws.  Both 
may  be  very  beautiful.  But  besides  possess- 
ing all  that  the  crystal  has,  the  plant  possesses 
something  more — a  mysterious  something 
called  Life.  Th1'"1-  Life  is  not  something  which 
existed  in  the  crystal  only  in  a  less  developed 
form.  There  is  nothing  at  all  like  it  in  the 
crystal.  There  is  nothing  like  the  first  be- 
ginning of  it  in  the  crystal,  not  a  trace  or 
symptom  of  it.  This  plant  is  tenanted  by 
something  new,  an  original  and  unique  posses- 
sion added  over  and  above  all  the  properties 
common  to  both.  When  from  vegetable  Life 
we  rise  to  animal  Life,  here  again  we  find 
something  original  and  unique — unique  at 
least  as  compared  with  the  mineral.  From 
animal  Life  we  ascend  again  to  Spiritual  Life. 
And  here  also  is  something  new,  something 
still  more  unique.  He  who  lives  the  Spiritual 
Life  has  a  distinct  kind  of  Life  added  to  all  the 
other  phases  of  Life  which  he  manifests — a 
kind  of  Life  infinitely  more  distinct  than  is  the 
active  Life  of  a  plant  from  the  inertia  of  a 
stone.  The  Spiritual  man  is  more  distinct  in 
point  of  fact  than  is  the  plant  from  the  stone. 
This  is  the  one  possible  comparison  in  Nature, 
for  it  is  the  wildest  distinction  in  Nature ;  but 
compared  with  the  difference  between  the 
Natural  and  the  Spiritual  the  gulf  which  di- 
vides the  organic  from  the  inorganic  is  a  hair's- 
breadth.  The  natural  man  belongs  essentially 
to  this  present  order  of  things.  He  is  endowed 
simply  with,  a  high  quality  of  the  natural  animal 


96  BIOGENESIS. 

Life.  But  it  is  Life  of  so  poor  a  quality  that  it  is 
not  Life  at  all.  He  that  hath  not  the  Son  hath 
not  Life;  but  he  that  hath  the  Son  hath  Life 
— a  new  and  distinct  and  supernatural  endow- 
ment. He  is  not  of  this  world.  He  is  of  the 
timeless  state,  of  Eternity.  It  doth  not  yet  ap- 
pear ichat  he  shall  be. 

The  difference  then  between  the  Spiritual 
man  and  the  Natural  man  is  not  a  difference 
of  development,  but  of  generation.  It  is  a  dis- 
tinction of  quality  not  of  quantity.  A  man 
cannot  rise  by  any  natural  development  from 
"  morality  touched  by  emotion,"  to  "  morality 
touched  by  Life."  Were  we  to  construct  a 
scientific  classification,  Science  would  compel 
us  to  arrange  all  natural  men,  moral  or  immoral, 
educated  or  vulgar,  as  one  family.  One  might 
be  high  in  the  family  group,  another  low ;  yet, 
practically,  they  are  marked  by  the  same  set 
of  characteristics — they  eat,  sleep,  work,  think, 
live,  die.  But  the  Spiritual  man  is  removed 
from  his  family  so  utterly  by  the  possession  of 
an  additional  characteristic  that  a  biologist, 
fully  informed  of  the  whole  circumstances, 
would  not  hesitate  a  moment  to  classify  him 
elsewhere.  And  if  he  really  entered  into  these 
circumstances  it  would  not  be  in  another  family 
but  in  another  Kingdom.  It  is  an  old-fashioned 
theology  which  divides  the  world  in  this  way 
— which  speaks  of  men  as  Living  and  Dead, 
Lost  and  Saved — a  stern  theology  all  but  fallen 
into  disuse.  This  difference  between  the  Liv- 
ing and  the  Dead  in  souls  is  so  unproved  by 
casual  observation,  so  impalpable  in  itself,  so 


BIOGENESIS.  9/ 

startling  as  a  doctrine,  that  schools  of  culture 
have  ridiculed  or  denied  the  grim  distinction. 
Nevertheless  the  grim  distinction  must  be  re- 
tained. It  is  a  scientific  distinction.  "He 
that  hath  not  the  Son  hath  not  Life." 

Now  it  is  this  great  Law  which  finally  dis- 
tinguishes Christianity  from  all  other  religions. 
It  places  the  religion  of  Christ  upon  a  footing 
altogether  unique. 

There  is  no  analogy  between  the  Christian 
religion  and,  say,  Buddhism  or  the  Moham- 
medan religion.  There  is  no  true  sense  in 
which  a  man  can  say,  He  that  hath  Buddha 
hath  Life.  Buddha  has  nothing  to  do  with 
Life.  He  may  have  something  to  do  with  mo- 
rality. He  may  stimulate,  impress,  teach, 
guide,  but  there  is  no  distinct  new  thing  added 
to  the  souls  of  those  who  profess  Buddhism. 
These  religions  may  be  developments  of  the 
natural,  mental,  or  moral  man.  But  Christi- 
anity professes  to  be  more.  It  is  the  mental 
or  moral  man  plus  something  else  or  some  One 
else.  It  is  the  infusion  into  the  Spiritual  man 
of  a  New  Life,  of  a  quality  unlike  anything 
else  in  Nature.  This  constitutes  the  separate 
Kingdom  of  Christ,  and  gives  to  Christianity 
alone  of  all  the  religions  of  mankind  the 
strange  mark  of  Divinity. 

Shall  we  next  inquire  more  precisely  what 
is  this  something  extra  which  constitutes 
Spiritual  Life  ?  What  is  this  strange  and  new 
endowment  in  its  nature  and  vital  essence? 
And  the  answer  is  brief — it  is  Christ.  He 
Chat  hath  the  Son  hath  Life. 


$8  BIOGENESTS. 

Are  we  forsaking  the  lines  of  Science  in 
saying  so  ?  Yes  and  No.  Science  has  drawn 
for  us  the  distinction.  It  has  no  voice  as  to 
the  nature  of  the  distinction  except  this — that 
the  new  endowment  is  a  something  different 
from  anything  else  with  which  it  deals.  It  is 
not  ordinary  Vitality,  it  is  not  intellectual,  it 
is  not  moral,  but  something  beyond.  And 
Revelation  steps  in  and  names  what  it  is — it  is 
Christ.  Out  of  the  multitude  of  sentences 
where  this  announcement  is  made,  these  few 
may  be  selected:  "Know  ye  not  your  own 
selves  how  that  Jesus  Christ  is  in  you  ? "  * 
"Your  bodies  are  the  members  of  Christ."1 
"  At  that  day  ye  shall  know  that  I  am  in  the 
Father,  and  ye  in  Me,  and  I  in  you." 8  "  We 
will  come  unto  him  and  make  our  abode  with 
him." 4  "I  am  the  Vine,  ye  are  the  branches." 6 
*'  I  am  crucified  with  Christ,  nevertheless  I  live, 
yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me."  6 

Three  things  are  cle  r  f  m  these  state- 
ments: First,  They  are  n  t  -  ere  figures  of 
rhetoric.  They  are  expl  't  declarations.  If 
language  means  anything  tlrse  words  an- 
nounce a  literal  fact.  Tn  ome  of  Christ's  own 
statements  the  literalism  s  if  possible  still 
more  impressi.e.  Foi  ins  ance,  "Except  ye 
eat  the  flesh  of  the  .on  >f  man  and  drink  his 
blood,  ye  have  no  life  in  you.  Whoso  eateth 
My  flesh  and  drinketh  My  blood  hath  eternal 
life ;  and  I  will  raise  him  up  at  the  last  day. 


«  2  Cor.  xii.  5.        *1  Cor.  vi.  15.        8  John  xiv.  10. 
*  John  xiv.  21-23.        »  John  xv.  4.        «  Gal.  ii.  ** 


BIOGENESIS.  99 

For  My  flesh  is  meat  indeed,  and  My  blood  is 
drink  indeed.  He  that  eateth  My  flesh  and 
drinketh  My  blood  dwelleth  in  Me  and  I  in 
him." 

In  the  second  place,  Spiritual  Life  is  not 
something  outside  ourselves.  The  idea  is  not 
that  Christ  is  in  heaven  and  that  we  can 
stretch  out  some  mysterious  faculty  and  deal 
with  Him  there.  This  is  the  vague  form  in 
which  many  conceive  the  truth,  but  it  is  con- 
trary  to  Christ's  teaching  and  to  the  analogy 
of  nature.  Vegetable  Life  is  not  contained  in 
a  reservoir  somewhere  in  the  skies,  and  meas- 
ured out  spasmodically  at  certain  seasons. 
The  Life  is  in  every  plant  and  tree,  inside  its 
own  substance  and  tissues,  and  continues  there 
until  it  dies.  This  localization  of  Life  in  the 
individual  is  precisely  the  point  where  Vitality 
differs  from  the  other  forces  of  nature,  such  as 
magnetism  and  electricity.  Vitality  has  much 
in  common  with  such  forces  as  magnetism 
and  electricity,  but  there  is  one  inviolable  dis- 
tinction between  them — that  Life  is  perma- 
nently fixed  and  rooted  in  the  organism.  The 
doctrines  of  conservation  and  transformation 
of  energy,  that  is  to  say,  do  not  hold  for 
Vitality.  The  electrician  can  demagnetize  a, 
bar  of  iron,  that  is,  he  can  transform  its  energy 
of  magnetism  into,  something  else — heat,  or 
motion,  or  light — and  then  re-form  these  back 
into  magnetism.  For  magnetism  has  no  root, 
no  individuality,  no  fixed  indwelling.  But  the 
biologist  cannot  devitalize  a  plant  or  an  animal 


100  BIOGENESIS. 

and  revivify  it  again.1  Life  is  not  one  of  the 
homeless  forces  which  promiscuously  inhabit 
space,  or  which  can  be  gathered  like  electricity 
from  the  clouds  and  dissipated  back  again 
into  space.  Life  is  definite  and  resident ;  and 
Spiritual  Life  is  not  a  visit  from  a  force,  but  a 
resident  tenant  in  the  soul. 

This  is,  however,  to  formulate  the  statement 
of  the  third  point,  that  spiritual  Life  is  not  an 
ordinary  form  of  energy  or  force.  The  analogy 
from  Nature  endorses  this,  but  here  Nature 
stops.  It  cannot  say  what  Spiritual  Life  is. 
Indeed  what  natural  Life  is  remains  unknown, 
and  the  word  Life  still  wanders  through 
Science  without  a  definition.  Nature  is  silent, 
therefore,  and  must  be  as  to  Spiritual  Life. 
But  in  the  absence  of  natural  light  we  fall 
back  upon  that  complementary  revelation 
which  always  shines  when  truth  is  necessary 
and  where  Nature  fails.  We  ask  with  Paul 
when  this  Life  first  visited  him  on  the  Da- 
mascus road,  What  is  this  ?  "  Who  art  Thou, 
Lord  ?  "  And  we  hear,  "  I  am  Jesus."  2 

We  must  expect  to  find  this  denied.  Be- 
sides a  proof  from  Revelation,  this  is  an  argu- 
ment from  experience.  And  yet  we  shall  still 

1  One  must  not  be  misled  by  popular  statements  in 
this   connection,    such  as   this    of  Professor  Owen's  : 
"  There  are  organisms  which  we  can  devitalize  and  re- 
vitalize— devive  and  revive — many  times.'7      (Monthly 
Microscopical  Journal,  May,  1869,  p.  294.)     The  refer- 
ence is  of  course  to  the  extraordinary  capacity  for  resus- 
citation possessed  by  many  of  the  Protozoa  and  othet 
low  forms  of  life. 

2  Acts  ix.  5. 


BIOGENESIS.  101 

be  told  that  this  Spiritual  Life  is  a  force.  But 
let  it  be  remembered  what  this  means  in 
Science,  it  means  the  heresy  of  confounding 
Force  with  Vitality.  We  must  also  expect  to 
be  told  that  this  Spiritual  Life  is  simply  a 
development  of  ordinary  Life — just  as  Dr. 
Bastian  tells  us  that  natural  Life  is  formed 
according  to  the  same  laws  which  determine 
the  more  simple  chemical  combinations.  But 
remember  what  this  means  in  Science.  It  is 
the  heresy  of  Spontaneous  Generation,  a  heresy 
so  thoroughly  discredited  now  that  scarcely 
an  authority  in  Europe  will  lend  his  name  to 
it.  Who  art  Thou,  Lord  ?  Unless  we  are  to 
be  allowed  to  hold  Spontaneous  Generation 
there  is  no  alternative :  Life  can  only  come 
from  Life :  "  I  am  Jesus." 

A  hundred  other  questions  now  rush  into 
the  mind  about  this  Life :  How  does  it  come  ? 
Why  does  it  come?  How  is  it  manifested? 
What  faculty  does  it  employ  ?  Where  does  it 
reside?  Is  it  communicable?  What  are  its 
conditions  ?  One  or  two  of  these  questions 
may  be  vaguely  answered,  the  rest  bring  us 
face  to  face  with  mystery.  Let  it  not  be 
thought  that  the  scientific  treatment  of  a 
Spiritual  subject  has  reduced  religion  to  a 
problem  of  physics,  or  demonstrated  God 
by  the  laws  of  biology.  A  religion  without 
mystery  is  an  absurdity.  Even  Science  has 
its  mysteries,  none  more  inscrutable  than 
around  this  Science  of  Life.  It  taught  us 
sooner  or  later  to  expect  mystery,  and  now  we 
enter  its  dorjain.  Let  it  be  carefully  marked, 


102  BIOGENESIS. 

however,  that  the  cloud  does  not  fall  and  cover 
us  till  we  have  ascertained  the  most  moment- 
ous truth  of  Religion — that  Christ  is  in  the 
Christian. 

Not  that  there  is  anything  new  in  this.  The 
Churches  have  always  held  that  Christ  was 
the  source  of  Life.  No  spiritual  man  ever 
claims  that  his  spirituality  is  his  own.  "I 
live,"  he  will  tell  you ;  "  nevertheless  it  is  not 
I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me."  Christ  our  Life 
has  indeed  been  the  only  doctrine  in  the 
Christian  Church  from  Paul  to  Augustine,  from 
Calvin  to  Newman.  Yet,  when  the  Spiritual 
man  is  cross-examined  upon  this  confession  it 
is  astonishing  to  find  what  uncertain  hold  it 
has  upon  his  mind.  Doctrinally  he  states  it 
adequately  and  holds  it  unhesitatingly.  But 
when  pressed  with  the  literal  question  he 
shrinks  from  the  answer.  We  do  not  really 
believe  that  the  Living  Christ  has  touched 
us,  that  He  makes  His  abode  in  us.  Spiritual 
Life  is  not  as  real  to  us  as  natural  Life.  And 
we  cover  our  retreat  into  unbelieving  vagueness 
with  a  plea  of  reverence,  justified,  as  we  think, 
by  the  "  Thus  far  and  no  f arther  "  of  ancient 
Scriptures.  There  is  often  a  great  deal  of 
intellectual  sin  concealed  under  this  old 
aphorism.  When  men  do  not  really  wish  to 
go  farther  they  find  it  an  honorable  con- 
venience sometimes  to  sit  down  on  the  outer- 
most edge  of  the  Holy  Ground  on  the  pretext 
of  taking  off  their  shoes.  Yet  we  must  be 
•certain  that,  making  a  virtue  of  reverence,  we 
not  merely  excusing  ignorance ;  or,  under 


BIOGENESIS.  10a 

the  plea  of  mystery,  evading  a  truth  which  has 
been  stated  in  the  New  Testament  a  hundred 
times,  in  the  most  literal  form,  and  with  all 
but  monotonous  repetition.  The  greatest 
truths  are  always  the  most  loosely  held.  And 
not  the  least  of  the  advantages  of  taking  up 
this  question  from  the  present  standpoint  is 
that  we  may  see  how  a  confused  doctrine  can 
really  bear  the  luminous  definition  of  Science 
and  force  itself  upon  us  with  all  the  weight  of 
Natural  Law. 

What  is  mystery  to  many  men,  what  feeds 
their  worship,  and  at  the  same  time  spoils  it, 
is  that  area  round  all  great  truth  which  is 
really  capable  of  illumination,  and  into  which. 
every  earnest  mind  is  permitted  and  com- 
manded to  go  with  a  light.  "We  cry  mystery 
long  before  the  region  of  mystery  comes.  True 
mystery  casts  no  shadows  around.  It  is  a 
sudden  and  awful  gulf  yawning  across  the  field 
of  knowledge  ;  its  form  is  irregular,  but  its  lips 
are  clean  cut  and  sharp,  and  the  mind  can  go 
to  the  very  verge  and  look  down  the  precipice 
into  the  dim  abyss, — 

"  Where  writhing  clouds  unroll, 
Striving  to  utter  themselves  in  shapes." 

We  have  gone  with  a  light  to  the  very  verge  of 
this  truth.  We  have  seen  that  the  Spiritual 
Life  is  an  endowment  from  the  Spiritual  World*, 
and  that  the  Living  Spirit  of  Christ  dwells  in 
the  Christian.  But  now  the  gulf  yawns  black 
before  us.  What  more  does  Science  know  ot 


104  BIOGENESIS. 

Life?  Nothing.  It  knows  nothing  further 
about  its  origin  in  detail.  It  knows  nothing 
about  its  ultimate  nature.  It  cannot  even 
define  it.  There  is  a  helplessness  in  scientific 
books  here,  and  a  continual  confession  of  it 
which  to  thoughtful  minds  is  almost  touching. 
Science,  therefore,  has  not  eliminated  the  true 
mysteries  from  our  faith,  but  only  the  false. 
And  it  has  done  more.  It  has  made  true  mys- 
tery scientific.  Religion  in  having  mystery  is 
in  analogy  with  all  around  it.  Where  there  is 
exceptional-  mystery  in  the  Spiritual  world  it 
will  generally  be  found  that  there  is  a  cor- 
responding mystery  in  the  natural  world. 
And,  as  Origen  centuries  ago  insisted,  the 
difficulties  of  Religion  are  simply  the  difficulties 
of  Nature. 

One  question  more  we  may  look  at  for  a 
moment.  What  can  be  gathered  on  the  surface 
as  to  the  process  of  Regeneration  in  the  in- 
dividual  soul  ?  From  the  analogies  of  Biology 
we  should  expect  three  things :  First,  that  the 
New  Life  should  dawn  suddenly ;  Second,  that 
it  should  come  "  without  observation  "  ;  Third, 
that  it  should  develop  gradually.  On  two  of 
these  points  there  can  be  little  controversy. 
The  gradualness  of  growth  is  a  characteristic 
which  strikes  the  simplest  observer.  Long  be- 
fore the  word  Evolution  was  coined  Christ 
applied  it  in  this  very  connection — "  First  the 
blade,  then  the  ear,  then  the  full  corn  in  the 
car."  It  is  well  known  also  to  those  who  study 
the  parables  of  Nature  that  there  is  an  ascend- 
ing scale  of  slowness  as  we  rise  in  the  scale  of 


BIOGENESIS.  105 

Life.  Growth  is  most  gradual  in  the  highest 
forms.  Man  attains  his  maturity  after  a  score 
of  years ;  the  monad  completes  its  humble  cycle 
in  a  day.  What  wonder  if  development  be 
tardy  in  the  Creature  of  Eternity  ?  A  Chris- 
tian's sun  has  sometimes  set,  and  a  critical 
world  has  seen  as  yet  no  corn  hi  the  ear .  As 
yet?  "As  yet,"  in  this  long  Life,  has  not 
begun.  Grant  him  the  years  proportionate  to 
his  place  in  the  scale  of  Life.  "  The  time  of 
harvest  is  not  yet" 

Again,  in  addition  to  being  slow,  the  phenom- 
ena of  growth  are  secret.  Life  is  invisible. 
When  the  New  Life  manifests  itself  it  is  a 
surprise.  Thou  canst  not  tell  whence  it  comsth 
or  whither  it  goeth.  When  the  plant  lives 
whence  has  the  Life  come?  When  it  dies 
whither  has  it  gone  ?  Thou  canst  not  tell .  .  . 
so  is  every  one  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit. 
For  the  Kingdom  of  God  cometh  without  ob- 
servation. 

Yet  once  more, — and  this  is  a  point  of 
strange  and  frivolous  dispute, — this  Life  comes 
suddenly.  This  is  the  only  way  in  which  Life 
can  come.  Life  cannot  c  me  gradually — health 
can,  structure  can,  but  not  Life.  A  new  the- 
ology has  laughed  at  the  Doctrine  of  Conver- 
sion. Sudden  Conversion  especially  has  been 
ridiculed  as  untrue  to  philosophy  and  impos- 
sible to  human  nature.  We  may  not  be  con. 
cerned  in  buttressing  any  theology  because  it 
is  old.  But  we  find  that  this  old  theology  is 
scientific.  There  may  be  cases — they  are  prob- 
ably in  the  majority — where  the  moment  of 


106  BIOGENESIS. 

contact  with  the  Living  Spirit  though  sudden 
has  been  obscure.  But  the  real  moment  and 
the  conscious  moment  are  two  different  things. 
Science  pronounces  nothing  as  to  the  con- 
scious moment.  If  it  did  it  would  probably  say 
that  that  was  seldom  the  real  moment — just  as 
in  the  natural  Life  the  conscious  moment  is  not 
the  real  moment.  The  moment  of  birth  in  the 
natural  world  is  not  a  conscious  moment — we 
do  not  know  we  are  born  till  long  afterward. 
Yet  there  are  men  to  whom  the  Origin  of  the 
Xew  Life  in  time  has  been  no  difficulty.  To 
Paul,  for  instance,  Christ  seems  to  have  come 
at  a  definite  period  of  time,  the  exact  moment 
and  second  of  which  could  have  been  known. 
And  this  is  certainly,  in  theory  at  least,  the 
nor-  ^al  Origin  of  Life,  according  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  Biology.  The  line  between  the  living: 
and  the  dead  is  a  sharp  line.  When  the  dead 
atoms  of  Carbon,  Hydrogen,  Oxygen,  Nitrogen, 
are  seized  upon  by  Life,  the  organism  at  first 
is  very  lowly.  It  possesses  few  functions.  It 
has  little  beauty.  Growth  is  the  work  of  time. 
But  Life  is  not.  That  comes  in  a  moment. 
At  one  moment  it  was  dead ;  the  next  it  lived. 
This  is  conversion,  the  "  passing,"  as  the  Bible 
calls  it,  "  from  Death  unto  Life."  Those  who 
have  stood  by  another's  side  at  the  solemn 
hour  of  this  dread  possession  have  been  con- 
scious sometimes  of  an  experience  which  words 
are  not  allowed  to  utter — a  something  like  the 
sudden  snapping  of  a  chain,  the  waking  from 
a  dream. 


DEGENERATION. 


I  went  by  the  field  of  the  slothful,  and  by  the  vine- 
yard of  the  man  void  of  understanding  ;  and  lo,  it  was 
all  grown  over  with  thorns,  and  nettles  had  covered  the 
face  thereof,  and  the  stone  wall  thereof  was  broken 
down.  Then  I  saw  and  considered  it  well;  I  looked 
upon  it  and  received  instruction." — SOLOMON. 


DEGENERATION. 

*'  How  shall  we  escape  if  we  neglect  so  great  salva- 
tion ?  " — Hebrews. 

"  We  have  as  possibilities  either  Balance,  or  Elabora- 
tion, or  Degeneration." — E.  Bay  Lankester. 

IN  one  of  his  best  known  books,  Mr.  Darwin 
brings  out  a  fact  which  may  be  illustrated  in 
some  such  way  as  this :  Suppose  a  bird  fan- 
cier collects  a  flock  of  tame  pigeons  distin- 
guished by  all  the  infinite  ornamentations  of 
their  race.  They  are  of  all  kinds,  of  every 
shade  of  color,  and  adorned  with  every  variety 
of  marking.  He  takes  th  m  to  an  uninhabited 
island  and  allows  them  to  fly  off  wild  into  the 
woods.  They  found  a  colony  there,  and  after 
the  lapse  of  many  years  the  owner  returns  to 
the  spot.  He  will  find  that  a  remarkable 
change  has  taken  place  in  the  interval.  The 
birds,  or  their  descendants  rather,  have  all  be- 
come changed  into  the  same  color.  The  black, 
the  white  and  the  dun,  the  striped,  the  spot- 
ted, and  the  ringed,  are  all  metamorphosed 
into  one — a  dark  slaty  blue.  Two  plain  black 
bands  monotonously  repeat  themselves  upon 
the  wings  of  each,  and  the  loins  beneath  are 
white;  but  all  tho  variety,  all  the  beautiful 
colors,  all  the  old  graces  of  form  it  may  be, 

109 


110  DEGENERATION. 

have  disappeared.  These  improvements  were 
the  result  of  care  and  nurture,  of  domestica- 
tion, of  civilization ;  and  now  that  these  influ- 
ences are  removed,  the  birds  themselves  undo 
the  past  and  lose  what  they  had  gained.  The 
attempt  to  elevate  the  race  has  "been  mysteri- 
ously thwarted.  It  is  as  if  the  original  bird, 
the  far  remote  ancestor  of  all  doves,  had  been 
blue,  and  these  had  been  compelled  by  some 
strange  law  to  discard  the  badges  of  their 
civilization  and  conform  to  the  ruder  image  of 
the  first.  The  natural  law  by  which  such  a 
change  occurs  is  called  The  Principle  of  Re- 
version to  Type. 

It  is  a  proof  of  the  universality  of  this  law 
that  the  same  thing  will  happen  with  a  plant. 
A  garden  is  planted,  let  us  say,  with  straw- 
berries and  roses,  and  for  a  number  of  years 
is  left  alone.  In  process  of  time  it  will  run  to 
waste.  But  this  does  not  mean  that  the 
plants  will  really  waste  away,  but  that  they 
will  change  into  something  else,  and,  as  it  in- 
variably appears,  into  something  worse;  in 
the  one  case,  namely,  into  the  small,  wild 
strawberry  of  the  woods,  and  in  the  other  into 
the  primitive  dog-rose  of  the  hedges. 

If  we  neglect  a  garden  plant,  then,  a  natural 
principle  of  deterioration  comes  in,  and  changes 
it  into  a  worse  plant.  And  if  we  neglect  a 
bird,  by  the  same  imperious  law  it  will  be 
gradually  changed  into  an  uglier  bird.  Or  if 
we  neglect  almost  any  of  the  domestic  ani- 
mals, they  will  rapidly  revert  to  wild  and 
worthless  forms  again. 


LEGENEEAT1ON.  H\ 

Now  the  same  thing  exactly  would  happen 
In  the  case  of  you  or  me.  Why  should  Man 
be  an  exception  to  any  of  the  laws  of  Nature  ? 
Nature  knows  him  simply  as  an  animal — Sub- 
kingdom  Vertebrata,  Class  Mammalia,  Order 
Himana.  And  the  law  of  Reversion  to  Type 
runs  through  all  creation.  If  a  man  neglect 
himself  for  a  few  years  he  will  change  into 
a  worse  man  and  a  lower  man.  If  it  is  his 
body  that  he  neglects,  he  will  deteriorate 
into  a  wild  and  bestial  savage — like  the  de- 
humanized men  who  are  discovered  sometimes 
upon  desert  islands.  If  it  is  his  mind,  it  will 
degenerate  into  imbecility  and  madness — soli- 
tary confinement  has  the  power  to  unmake 
men's  minds  and  leave  them  idiots.  If  he 
neglect  his  conscience,  it  will  run  off  into  law« 
lessness  and  vice.  Or,  lastly,  if  it  is  his  soul, 
it  must  inevitably  atrophy,  drop  off  iu  ruin 
and  decay. 

We  have  here,  then,  a  thoroughly  natural 
basis  for  the  question  before  us.  If  we  neglect, 
with  this  universal  principle  staring  us  in  the 
face,  how  shall  we  escape  ?  If  we  neglect  the 
ordinary  means  of  keeping  a  garden  in  order, 
how  shall  it  escape  running  to  weeds  and 
waste?  Or,  if  we  neglect  the  opportunities 
for  cultivating  the  mind,  how  shall  it  escape 
ignorance  and  feebleness  ?  So,  if  we  neglect 
the  soul,  how  shall  it  escape  the  natural  ret- 
rograde movement,  the  inevitable  relapse  into 
barrenness  and  death  ? 

It  is  not  necessary,  surely,  to  pause  for 
proof  that  there  is  such  a  retrograde  principle 


112  DEGENERATION. 

in  the  being  of  every  man.  It  is  demonstrate 
ed  b\  facts,  am"  by  '-he  analogy  of  all  Nature. 
Three  possibilities  of  life,  according  to  Science, 
are  open  to  all  living  organisms — Balance, 
Evolution,  and  Degeneral  >n.  The  first 
denotes  the  precarious  persistence  of  a  life 
along  what  looks  like  a  level  path,  a  character 
which  seems  to  hold  its  own  alike  against  the 
attacks  of  evil  and  the  appeals  of  good.  It 
implies  a  set  of  circumstances  so  balanced  by 
choice  of  fortune  that  they  neither  influence 
for  better  nor  for  worse.  But  except  in  theory 
this  state  of  equilibrium,  normal  in  the  inor- 
ganic kingdom,  is  really  foreign  in  the  world 
of  fe ;  and  what  seems  inertia  may  be  a  true 
Evolution  unnoticed  from  its  slowness,  or 
likelier  still  a  movement  of  Degeneration  subtly 
obliterating  as  it  falls  the  very  traces  of  its 
former  height.  From  this  state  of  apparent 
Balance,  Evolution  is  the  escape  in  the  up- 
ward  direction,  Degeneration  in  the  lower. 
But  Degeneration,  rather  than  Balance  or 
Elaboration,  is  the  possibility  of  life  embraced 
by  the  majority  of  mankind.  And  the  choice 
is  determined  by  man's  own  nature.  The  life 
of  Balance  is  difficult.  It  lies  on  the  verge  of 
continual  temptation,  its  perpetual  adjust- 
ments become  fatiguing,  its  measured  virtue 
is  monotonous  and  uninspiring.  More  diffi- 
cult still,  apparently,  is  the  life  of  ever  upward 
growth.  Most  men  attempt  it  for  a  time,  but 
growth  is  slow ;  and  despair  overtakes  them 
while  the  goal  is  far  away.  Yet  none  of  these 
reasons  fully  explains  the  fact  that  the  alter- 


DEGENERATION.  113 

native  which  remains  is  adopted  by  the  ma- 
jority of  men.  That  Degeneration  is  easy  only 
half  accounts  for  it.  Why  is  it  easy?  Why 
but  that  already  in  each  man's  very  nature 
this  principle  is  supreme?  He  feels  within  his 
soul  a  silent  drifting  motion  impelling  him 
downward  with  irresistible  force.  Instead  of 
aspiring  to  Conversion  to  a  higher  Type  he  sub- 
mits by  a  law  of  his  nature  to  Reversion  to  a 
lower.  This  is  Degeneration — that  principle 
by  which  the  organism,  failing  to  develop  itself, 
failing  even  to  keep  what  it  has  got,  deterio- 
rates, and  becomes  more  cind  more  adapted 
to  a  degraded  form  of  life. 

All  men  who  know  themselves  are  conscious 
that  this  tendency,  deep-rooted  and  active, 
exists  within  their  nature.  Theologically  it  is 
described  as  a  gravitation,  a  bias  toward  evil. 
The  Bible  view  is  that  man  is  conceived  in  sin 
and  shapen  in  iniquity.  And  experience  tells 
him  that  he  will  shape  himself  into  further  sin 
and  ever-deepening  iniquity  without  the  small- 
est effort,  without  in  the  least  intending  it, 
and  in  the  most  natural  way  in  the  world  if 
he  simply  let  his  life  run.  It  is  on  this  prin- 
ciple that,  completing  the  conception,  the 
wicked  are  said  further  in  the  Bible  to  be  lost. 
They  are  not  really  lost  as  yet,  but  they  are  on 
the  sure  way  to  it.  The  bias  of  their  lives  is 
in  full  action.  There  is  no  drag  on  anywhere. 
The  natural  tendencies  are  having  it  all  their 
own  way ;  and  although  the  victims  may  be 
quite  unconscious  that  all  this  is  going  on,  it 
is  patent  to  every  one  who  considers  even  th« 
8 


114  DEGENERATION. 

natural  bearings  of  the  case  that  "  the  end  oi 
these  things  is  Death."  When  we  see  a  man 
fall  from  the  top  of  a  five-story  house,  we  say 
the  man  is  lost.  We  say  that  before  he  has 
fallen  a  foot ;  for  the  same  principle  that  made 
him  fall  the  one  foot  will  undoubtedly  malra 
him  complete  the  descent  by  falling1  othe- 
eighty  or  ninety  feet.  So  that  he  is  a  dead 
man,  or  a  lost  man  from  the  very  first,  The 
gravitation  of  sin  in  a  human  soul  acts  pre- 
cisely in  the  same  way.  Gradually,  with 
gathering  momentum  it  sinks  a  man  further 
and  further  from  God  and  righteousness,  and 
lands  him,  by  the  sheer  action  of  a  natural 
Jaw,  in  the  hell  of  a  neglected  life. 

But  the  lesson  is  not  less  clear  from  analogy. 
Apart  even  from  the  law  of  Degeneration, 
apart  from  Reversion  to  Type,  there  is  in  every 
living  organism  a  law  of  Death.  We  are  wont 
to  imagine  that  Nature  is  full  of  Life.  In 
reality  it  is  full  of  Death.  One  cannot  say  it 
is  natural  for  a  plant  to  live.  Examine  its 
nature  fully,  and  you  have  to  admit  that  its 
natural  tendency  is  to  die.  It  is  kept  from 
dying  by  a  mere  temporary  endowment,  which 
gives  it  an  ephemeral  dominion  over  the  ele- 
ments— gives  it  power  to  utilize  for  a  brief 
span  the  rain,  the  sunshine,  and  the  air.  With- 
draw this  temporary  endowment  for  a  moment 
-and  its  true  nature  is  revealed.  Instead  of 
overcoming  Nature  it  is  overcome.  The  very 
things  which  appeared  to  minister  to  its  growth 
and  beauty  now  turn  against  it  and  make  it 
decay  and  die.  The  sun  which  warmed  it, 


DEGENERATION.  115 

withers  it ;  the  air  and  rain  which  nourished 
it,  rot  it.  It  is  the  very  forces  which  we  asso- 
ciate with  life  which,  when  their  true  nature 
appears,  are  discovered  to  be  really  the  min- 
isters of  death. 

This  law,  which  is  true  for  the  whole  plant- 
world,  is  also  valid  for  the  animal  and  for  man. 
Air  is  not  life,  but  corruption — so  literally  cor- 
ruption that  the  only  way  to  keep  out  corrup- 
tion, when  life  has  ebbed,  is  to  keep  out  air. 
Life  is  merely  a  temporary  suspension  of  these 
destructive  powers ;  and  this  is  truly  one  of 
the  most  accurate  definitions  of  life  we  have 
yet  received — "  the  sum  total  of  the  functions 
which  resist  death." 

Spiritual  life,  in  like  manner,  is  the  sum 
total  of  the  functions  which  resist  sin.  The 
soul's  atmosphere  is  the  daily  trial,  circum- 
stance, and  temptation  of  the  world.  And  as 
it  is  life  alone  which  gives  the  plant  power  to 
utilize  the  elements,  and  as,  without  it,  they 
utilize  it,  so  it  is  the  spiritual  life  alone  which, 
gives  the  soul  power  to  utilize  temptation  and 
trial ;  and  without  l  th  destroy  the  souL 
How  shall  we  escape  '".  wo  refuse  to  exercise 
these  functions — in  other  words,  if  we  neglect  ? 

This  destroying  .recess,  observe,  goes  on 
quite  independently  of  G  's  judgment  on  sin. 
God's  judgment  on  sin  is  another  and  a  more 
awful  fact  of  which  this  may  be  a  part.  But 
it  is  a  distinct  fact  by  itself,  which  we  can  hold 
and  examine  separately,  that  on  purely  natural 
principles  the  soul  that  is  left  to  itself  un- 
watched,  uncultivated,  unredeemed,  must  fall 


116  DEGENERATION. 

away  into  death  by  its  own  nature.  The  sotd 
that  sinneth  "  it  shall  die."  It  shall  die,  not 
necessarily  because  God  passes  sentence  of 
death  upon  it,  but  because  it  cannot  help  dying. 
It  has  neglected  "  the  functions  which  resist 
death,"  and  has  always  been  dying.  The 
punishment  is  in  its  very  nature,  and  the  sen- 
tence  is  being  gradually  carried  out  all  along 
the  path  of  life  by  ordinary  processes  which 
enforce  the  verdict  with  the  appalling  faithful- 
ness of  law. 

There  is  an  affectation  that  religious  truths 
lie  beyond  the  sphere  of  the  comprehension 
which  serves  men  in  ordinary  things.  This 
question  at  least  must  be  an  exception.  It  lies 
as  near  the  natural  as  the  spiritual.  If  it 
makes  no  impression  on  a  man  to  know  that 
God  will  visit  his  iniquities  upon  him,  he  can- 
not blind  himself  to  the  fact  that  Nature  will. 
Do  we  not  all  know  what  it  is  to  be  punished 
by  Nature  for  disobeying  her  ?  We  have 
looked  round  the  wards  of  a  hospital,  a  prison, 
or  a  madhouse,  and  seen  there  Nature  at  work 
squaring  her  accounts  with  sin.  And  we  knew 
as  we  looked  that  if  no  Judge  sat  on  the  throne 
of  heaven  at  all  there  was  a  Judgment  there, 
where  an  inexorable  Nature  was  crying  aloud 
for  justice,  and  carrying  out  her  heavy  sen- 
tences for  violated  laws. 

When  God  gave  Nature  the  law  into  her 
own  hands  in  this  way,  He  seems  to  have 
given  her  two  rules  upon  which  her  sentences 
were  to  be  based.  The  one  is  formally  enun- 
ciated in  this  sentence,  "  WHATSOEVER  A  MAN 


DEGENERATION.  117 

BOWETH     THAT    SHALL     HE    ALSO    EEAP."        The 

other  is  informally  expressed  in  this,  "!F  WE 

NEGLECT  HOW  SHALL  WE  ESCAPE?" 

The  first  is  the  positive  law,  and  deals  with 
sins  of  commission.  The  other,  which  we  are 
now  discussing,  is  the  negative,  and  deals  with 
sins  of  omission.  It  does  not  say  anything 
about  sowing,  but  about  not  sowing.  It  takes 
up  the  case  of  souls  which  are  lying  fallow. 
It  does  not  say,  if  we  sow  corruption,  we  shall 
reap  corruption.  Perhaps  we  would  not  be  so 
unwise,  so  regardless  of  ourselves,  of  public 
opinion,  as  to  sow  corruption.  It  does  not  say, 
if  we  sow  tares  we  shall  reap  tares.  We  might 
never  do  anything  so  foolish  as  sow  tares. 
But  if  we  sow  nothing,  it  says,  we  shall  reap 
nothing.  If  we  put  nothing  into  the  field,  we 
shall  take  nothing  out.  If  we  neglect  to  cul- 
tivate in  summer,  how  shall  we  escape  starv- 
ing in  winter? 

Now  the  Bible  raises  this  question,  but  does 
not  answer  it — because  it  is  too  obvious  to  need 
answering.  How  shall  we  escape  if  we  neg- 
lect? The  answer  is,  we  cannot.  In  the 
nature  of  things  we  cannot.  We  cannot  escape 
any  more  than  a  man  can  escape  drowning 
who  falls  into  the  sea  and  has  neglected  to 
learn  to  swim.  In  the  nature  of  things  he 
cannot  escape — nor  can  he  escape  who  has 
neglected  the  great  salvation. 

Now  why  should  such  fatal  consequences 
follow  a  simple  process  like  neglect?  The 
popular  impression  is  that  a  man,  to  be  what 
is  called  lost,  must  be  an  open  and  notorious 


118  DEGENERATION. 

sinner.  He  must  be  one  who  has  abandoned 
all  that  is  good  and  pure  in  life,  and  sown  tc 
the  flesh  with  all  his  might  and  main.  But 
this  principle  goes  further.  It  says  simply, 
•"  If  we  neglect."  Any  one  may  see  the  reason 
why  a  notoriously  wicked  person  should  not 
escape ;  but  why  should  not  all  the  rest  of  us 
escape?  What  is  to  hinder  people  who  are 
not  notoriously  wicked  escaping — people  who 
never  sowed  anything  in  particular?  Why 
is  it  such  a  sin  to  sow  nothing  in  particular 't 

There  must  be  some  hidden  and  vital  rela- 
tion between  these  three  words,  Salvation, 
Neglect,  and  Escape — some  reasonable,  es- 
sential, and  indissoluble  connection.  Why 
are  these  words  so  linked  together  as  to  weight 
this  clause  with  all  the  authority  and  solemnity 
of  a  sentence  of  death  ? 

The  explanation  has  partly  been  given 
already.  It  lies  still  further,  however,  in  the 
meaning  of  the  word  Salvation.  And  this,  of 
course,  is  not  at  all  Salvation  in  the  ordinary 
sense  of  forgiveness  of  sin.  This  is  one  great 
meaning  of  Salvation,  the  first  and  the  greatest. 
But  this  is  spoken  to  people  who  are  supposed 
to  have  had  this.  It  is  the  broader  word, 
therefore,  and  includes  not  only  forgiveness  of 
sin  but  salvation  or  deliverance  from  the  down- 
ward bias  of  the  soul.  It  takes  in  that  whole 
process  of  rescue  from  the  power  of  sin  and 
selfishness  that  should  be  going  on  from  day 
to  day  in  every  human  life.  We  have  seen 
that  there  is  a  natural  principle  in  man  lower- 
ing him,  deadening  him,  pulling  him  down  by 


DEGENERATION. 

inches  to  the  mere  animal  plane,  blinding- 
reason,  searing  conscience,  paralyzing  will. 
This  is  the  active  destroying  principle,  or  Sin. 
Now  to  counteract  this,  God  has  discovered  to 
us  another  principle  which  will  stop  this  drift- 
ing process  in  the  soul,  steer  it  round,  and  maker 
it  drift  the  other  way.  This  is  the  active  sav- 
ing principle,  or  Salvation.  If  a  man  find  the* 
first  of  these  powers  furiously  at  work  within 
him,  dragging  his  whole  life  downward  to  de- 
struction, there  is  only  one  way  to  escape  hia 
fate — to  take  resolute  hold  of  the  upward 
power,  and  be  borne  by  it  to  the  opposite  goal. 
And  as  this  second  power  is  the  only  one  in, 
the  universe  which  has  the  slightest  real  effect 
upon  the  first,  how  shall  a  man  escape  if  he 
neglect  it  ?  To  neglect  it  is  to  cut  off  the  only 
possible  chance  of  escape.  In  declining  thia 
he  is  simply  abandoning  himself  with  his  eyea 
open  to  that  other  and  terrible  energy  which 
is  already  there,  and  which,  in  the  natural 
course  of  things,  is  bearing  him  every  moment 
further  and  further  from  escape. 

From  the  very  nature  of  Salvation,  there* 
fore,  it  is  plain  that  the  only  thing  necessary 
to  make  it  of  no  effect  is  neglect.  Hence  the 
Bible  could  not  fail  to  lay  strong  emphasis  on 
a  word  so  vital.  It  was  not  necessary  for  it 
to  say,  how  shall  we  escape  if  we  trample 
upon  the  great  salvation,  or  doubt,  or  despise,, 
or  reject  it.  A  man  whr  has  been  poisoned 
only  need  neglcc'j  the  antidote  and  ho  will  die. 
It  makes  no  ^liffcrence  whether  he  dashes  it 
on  the  ground,  or  pours  it  out  of  the  window, 


1 20  DEGENERA  TION. 

or  sets  it  down  by  his  bedside,  and  stares  at  it 
all  the  time  he  is  dying.  He  will  die  just  the 
same,  whether  he  destroys  it  in  a  passion,  or 
coolly  refuses  to  have  anything  to  do  with  it. 
And  as  a  matter  of  fact  probably  most  deaths, 
spiritually,  are  gradual  dissolutions  of  the 
last  class  rather  than  rash  suicides  of  the  first. 

This,  then,  is  the  effect  of  neglecting  salva- 
tion from  the  side  of  salvation  itself;  and  the 
conclusion  is  that  from  the  very  nature  of 
salvation  escape  is  out  of  the  question.  Salva- 
tion is  a  definite  process.  If  a  man  refuse  to 
submit  himself  to  that  process,  clearly  he  can- 
not have  the  benefits  of  it.  As  many  as  re- 
ceived Him  to  them  gave  He  power  to  become 
the  sons  of  God,  He  does  not  avail  himself  of 
this  power.  It  may  be  mere  carelessness  or 
apathy.  Nevertheless  the  neglect  is  fatal. 
He  cannot  escape  because  he  will  not. 

Turn  now  to  another  aspect  of  the  case — to 
the  effect  upon  the  soul  itself.  Neglect  does 
more  for  the  soul  than  make  it  miss  salvation. 
It  despoils  it  of  its  ca  acity  for  salvation. 
Degeneration  in  the  spiritual  sphere  involves 
primarily  the  impairing  of  the  faculties  of 
salvation  and  ultimal  -ly  the  loss  of  them.  It 
really  means  that  the  very  soul  itself  becomes 
piecemeal  destroyed  until  the  very  capacity  for 
God  and  righteousness  is  gone. 

The  soul,  in  its  highest  sense,  is  a  vast 
capacity  for  God.  It  is  like  a  curious  chamber 
added  on  to  being,  and  somehow  involving 
being,  a  chamber  with  elastic  and  contractile 
walls,  which  can  be  expanded,  with  God  as  its 


DEGENERATION.  121 

guest,  inimitably,  but  which  without  God 
shrinks  and  shrivels  until  every  vestige  of  the 
Divine  is  gone,  and  God's  image  is  left  with- 
out  God's  Spirit.  One  cannot  call  what  is  left 
a  soul;  it  is  a  shrunken,  useless  organ,  a 
capacity  sentenced  to  death  by  disuse,  which 
droops  as  a  withered  hand  by  the  side,  and 
cumbers  nature  like  a  rotted  branch.  Nature 
has  her  revenge  upon  neglect  as  well  as  upon 
extravagance.  Misuse,  with  her,  is  as  mortal 
a  sin  as  abuse. 

There  are  certain  burrowing  animals — the 
mole  for  instance — which  have  taken  to  spend- 
ing their  lives  beneath  the  surface  of  the  ground. 
And  Nature  has  taken  her  revenge  upon  them 
in  a  thoroughly  natural  way — she  has  closed  up 
their  eyes.  If  they  mean  to  live  in  darkness, 
she  argues,  eyes  are  obviously  a  superfluous 
function.  By  neglecting  them  these  animals 
made  it  clear  they  do  not  want  them.  And 
as  one  of  Nature's  fixed  principles  is  that  noth- 
ing shall  exist  in  vain,  the  eyes  are  presently 
taken  away,  or  reduced  to  a  rudimentary 
state.  There  are  fishes  also  which  have  had 
to  pay  the  same  terrible  forfeit  for  having 
made  their  abode  in  dark  caverns  where  eyes 
can  never  be  required.  And  in  exactly  the 
«ame  way  the  spiritual  eye  must  die  and  lose 
its  power  by  purely  natural  law  if  the  soul 
choose  to  walk  in  darkness  rather  than  in  light. 

This  is  the  meaning  of  the  favorite  paradox 
of  Christ,  "  From  him  that  hath  not  shall  be 
taken  away  even  that  v/hich  he  hath ; "  "  take 
therefore  the  talent  from  him."  The  religious 


122  DEGENERATION, 

faculty  is  a  talent,  the  most  splendid  and  sacred 
talent  we  possess.  Yet  it  is  subject  to  the  nat- 
ural conditions  and  laws.  If  any  man  take 
his  talent  and  hide  it  in  a  napkin,  although  it 
is  doing  him  neither  harm  nor  good  apparently, 
God  will  not  allow  him  to  have  it.  Although 
it  is  lying  there  rolled  up  in  the  darkness,  not 
conspicuously  affecting  any  one,  still  God  will 
not  allow  him  to  keep  it.  He  will  not  allow  him 
to  keep  it  any  more  than  Nature  would  allow 
the  fish  to  keep  their  eyes.  Therefore,  He  says, 
*  take  the  talent  from  him."  And  Nature  does  it. 
This  man's  crime  was  simply  neglect — "  thou 
wicked  and  slothful  servant."  It  was  a  wasted 
life— a  life  which  failed  in  the  holy  steward- 
ship of  itself.  Such  a  life  is  a  peril  to  all  who 
cross  its  path.  Degeneration  compasses  De- 
generation. It  is  only  a  character  which  is 
itself  developing  that  can  aid  the  Evolution  of 
the  world 'and  so  fulfil  the  end  f  life.  For 
this  high  usury  each  of  our  lives,  however  sm  11 
may  seem  our  capital,  was  given  us  by  God. 
And  it  is  just  the  men  whose  capital  seems- 
small  who  need  to  choose  the  best  investments. 
It  is  significant  that  it  was  the  man  who  had 
only  one  talen  who  was  guilty  of  neglecting 
it.  Men  with  ten  talents,  men  of  large  gifts 
and  burning  energies,  either  direct  their  powers 
nobly  and  usefully,  or  misdirect  them  irretriev- 
ably* It  is  those  who  belong  to  the  rank  and 
file  of  life  who  need  this  warning  most.  Others 
have  an  abundant  store  and  sow  to  the  spirit  or 
the  flesh  with  a  lavish  hand.  But  we,  with  our 
•mall  gift>  what  boots  our  sowing  ?  Our  temp- 


DEGENERATION.  123 

tation  as  ordinary  men  is  to  neglect  to  sow  at 
all.  The  interest  on  our  talent  would  be  so  small 
that  we  excuse  ourselves  with  the  reflection 
that  it  is  not  worth  while. 

It  is  no  objection  to  all  this  to  say  that  we 
are  unconscious  of  this  neglect  or  misdirection 
of  our  powers.  That  is  the  darkest  feature  in 
the  case.  If  there  were  uneasiness  there  might 
b<  hope.  If  there  were,  somewhere  about  our 
sr>ui,  a  something  which  was  not  gone  to  sleep 
like  all  the  rest ;  if  there  were  a  contending 
force  anywhere;  it  we  would  let  even  that 
work  instead  of  neglecting  it,  it  would  gain 
strength  from  hour  to  hour,  and  waken  up  one 
at  a  time  each  torpid  and  dishonored  faculty 
till  our  whole  nature  becomes  alive  with  striv- 
ings against  self,  and  every  avenue  was  open 
wide  for  God.  But  the  apathy,  the  numbness 
of  the  soul,  what  can  be  said  of  such  a  symptom 
but  that  it  means  the  creeping  on  of  death  ? 
There  are  accidents  in  which  the  victims  feel 
no  pain.  They  are  well  and  strong  they  think. 
But  they  are  dying.  And  if  you  ask  the  sur- 
geon by  their  side  what  makes  him  give  this 
verdict,  he  will  say  it  is  this  numbness  over 
the  frame  which  tells  how  some  of  the  parts 
have  lost  already  the  very  capacity  for  life. 

Nor  is  it  the  least  tragic  accompaniment  of 
this  process  that  its  effect  may  even  be  concealed 
from  others.  The  soul  undergoing  Degenera- 
tion, surely  by  some  arrangement  with  Temp- 
tation planned  in  the  uttermost  hell,  possesses 
the  power  of  absolute  secrecy.  When  all  with- 
in is  festering  decay  and  rottenness,  a  Judas, 


124  DEGENERATION. 

without  anomaly,  may  kiss  his  Loid.  Thit 
invisible  consumption,  like  its  fell  analogue 
in  the  natural  world,  may  even  keep  its  victim 
beautiful  while  slowly  slaying  it.  When  one 
examines  the  little  Crustacea  which  have  in- 
habited for  centuries  the  lakes  of  the  Mammoth 
Cave  of  Kentucky,  one  is  at  first  astonished  to 
find  these  animals  apparently  endowed  with 
perfect  eyes.  The  pallor  of  the  head  is  broken 
by  two  black  pigment  specks,  conspicuous 
indeed  as  the  only  bits  of  color  on  the  wh.^e 
blanched  body ;  and  these,  even  to  the  casual 
observer,  certainly  represent  well-defined  or. 
gans  of  vision.  But  what  do  they  with  ey:s 
in  these  Stygian  waters?  There  reigns  an 
everlasting  night.  Is  the  law  for  once  at  fault  I 
A  swift  incision  with  the  scalpel,  a  glance  with 
a  lens,  and  their  secret  is  betrayed.  The  eyes 
are  a  mockery.  Externally  they  are  organs  of 
vision — the  front  of  the  eye  is  perfect ;  behind, 
there  is  nothing  but  a  mass  of  ruins.  The  optio 
nerve  is  a  shrunken,  atrophied  and  insensate 
thread.  These  animals  have  organs  of  vision, 
and  yet  they  have  no  vision.  They  have  eyes, 
but  they  see  not. 

Exactly  what  Christ  said  of  men  :  They  had 
eyes,  but  no  vision.  And  the  reason  is  the 
same.  It  is  the  simplest  problem  of  natural 
history.  The  Crustacea  of  the  Mammoth  Cave 
have  chosen  to  abide  in  darkness.  Therefore 
they  have  become  fitted  for  it.  By  refusing  to 
see  they  have  waived  the  right  to  see.  And 
Nature  has  grimly  humored  them.  Nature  had 
to  do  it  by  her  very  constitution.  It  is  her  de- 


DEGENERATION.  125 

fence  against  waste  that  decay  of  faculty  should 
immediately  follow  disuse  of  function.  He  that 
hath  ears  to  hear,  he  whose  ears  have  not  de- 
generated, let  him  hear. 

Men  tell  us  sometimes  there  is  no  such  thing 
as  an  atheist.  There  must  be.  There  are  some 
men  to  whom  it  is  true  that  there  is  no  God. 
They  cannot  see  God  because  they  have  no  eye. 
They  have  only  an  abortive  organ,  atrophied 
by  neglect. 

All  this,  it  is  commonplace  again  to  insist,  is 
not  the  effect  of  neglect  when  we  die,  but  while 
we  live.  The  process  is  in  full  career  and 
operation  now.  It  is  useless  projecting  con- 
sequences into  the  future  when  the  effects  may 
be  measured  now.  We  are  always  practising 
these  little  deceptions  upon  ourselves,  post- 
poning the  consequences  of  our  misdeeds 
as  if  they  were  to  culminate  some  other 
day  about  the  time  of  death.  It  makes 
us  sin  with  a  lighter  hand  to  run  an  account 
with  retribution,  as  it  were,  and  delay  the 
reckoning  time  with  God.  But  every  day  is  a 
reckoning  day.  Every  soul  is  a  Book  of  Judg- 
ment, and  Nature,  as  a  recording  angel,  marks 
their  every  sin.  As  all  will  be  "judged  by  the 
great  Judge  some  day,  all  are  judged  by  Nature 
now.  The  sin  of  yesterday,  as  part  of  its 
penalty,  has  the  sin  of  to-day.  All  follow  us 
in  silent  retribution  on  our  past,  and  go  with 
us  to  the  grave.  We  cannot  cheat  Nature. 
No  sleigh t-of -heart  can  rob  religion  of  a 
present,  the  immortal  nature  of  a  noio.  The 
poet  sings — 


120  DEGENERATION. 

**  I  looked  behind  to  find  my  past, 
Andlo,  it  had  gone  before." 

But  no,  not  all.  The  unforgiven  sins  are  not 
away  in  keeping  somewhere  to  be  let  loose  up- 
on us  when  we  die  ;  they  are  here  within  us, 
now.  To-day  brings  the  resurrection  of  their 
past,  to-morrow  of  to-day.  And  the  powers 
of  sin,  to  the  exact  strength  that  we  tmve 
developed  them,  nearing  their  dreadful  culmina- 
tion with  every  breath  we  draw,  are  here,  with- 
in us,  now.  The  souls  of  some  men  are  al- 
ready honeycombed  through  and  through  with 
the  eternal  consequences  of  neglect,  so  that 
taking  the  natural  and  rational  view  of  their 
case  just  now,  it  is  simply  inconceivable  that 
there  is  any  escape  just  now.  What  a  fearful 
thing  it  is  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  living 
God  !  A  fearful  thing  even  if,  as  the  philosc* 
pher  tells  us,  "  the  hands  of  the  Living  God  are 
the  Laws  of  Nature." 

Whatever  hopes  of  a  "  heaven  "  a  neglected 
soul  may  have,  can  be  shown  to  be  an  ignorant 
and  delusive  dream.  How  is  the  soul  to  escape 
to  heaven  if  it  has  neglected  for  a  lifetime  the 
means  of  escape  from  the  world  and  self  ? 
And  where  Is  the  capacity  for  heaven  to  come 
from  if  it  be  not  developed  on  earth  ?  Where, 
indeed,  is  even  the  smallest  spiritual  apprecia- 
tion of  God  and  heaven  to  come  from  when  so 
little  of  spirituality  has  ever  been  known  or 
manifested  here  ?  If  every  Godward  aspira- 
tion of  the  soul  has  been  allowed  to  become 
extinct,  and  every  inlet  that  was  open  to 
heaven  to  be  choked,  and  every  talent  for 


DEGENERATION.  127 

religions  love  and  trust  to  have  been  persist- 
ently neglected  and  ignored,  where  are  the 
faculties  to  come  from  that  would  even  find 
the  faintest  relish  in  such  things  as  God  and 
heaven  gives  ? 

These  three  words,  Salvation,  Escape,  and 
Neglect,  then,  are  not  casually,  but  organically 
and  necessarily  connected.  Their  doctrine  is 
scientific,  not  arbitrary.  Escape  means  noth- 
ing more  than  the  gradual  emergence  of  the 
higher  being  from  the  lower,  and  nothing  less. 
It  means  the  gradual  putting  off  of  all  that  can- 
not enter  the  higher  state,  or  heaven,  and 
simultaneously  the  putting  on  of  Christ.  It 
involves  the  slow  completing  of  the  soul  and 
the  development  of  the  capacity  for  God. 

Should  any  one  object  that  from  this  scien- 
tific standpoint  the  opposite  of  salvation  is 
annihilation,  the  answer  is  at  hand.  From  this 
standpoint  there  is  no  such  word. 

If,  then,  escape  is  to  be  open  to  us,  it  is  not 
to  come  to  us  somehow,  vaguely.  We  are  not 
to  hope  for  anything  startling  or  mysterious. 
It  is  a  definite  opening  along  certain  lines  which 
are  definitely  marked  by  God,  which  begin  at 
the  Cross  of  Christ,  and  lead  direct  to  Him. 
Each  man  in  the  silence  of  his  own  soul  must 
work  out  this  salvation  for  himself  with  fear 
and  trembling — with  fear,  realizing  the  mo- 
mentous issues  of  his  task  ;  with  trembling, 
lest  before  the  tardy  work  be  done  the  voice 
of  Death  should  summon  him  to  stop. 

What  these  lines  are  may,  in  closing,  be  in- 
dicated in  a  word.  The  true  problem  of  th" 


128  DEGENERATION. 

spiritual  life  may  be  said  to  be,  do  the  opposite 
of  Neglect.  Whatever  this  is,  do  it  and  you  shall 
escape.  It  will  just  mean  that  you  are  so  to 
cultivate  the  soul  that  all  its  powers  will  open, 
out  to  God,  and  in  beholding  God  be  drawn  away 
from  sin.  The  idea  really  is  to  develop  among 
the  ruins  of  the  old  a  new  "  creature  "  — a  new 
creature  which,  while  the  old  is  suffering  De- 
generation from  Neglect,  is  gradually  to  unfold, 
to  escape  away  and  develop  on  spiritual  lines  to 
spiritual  beauty  and  strength.  And  as  our 
conception  of  spiritual  being  must  be  taken 
simply  from  natural  being,  our  ideas  of  the  lives 
along  which  the  new  religious  nature  is  to  run 
must  be  borrowed  from  the  known  lines  of  the 
old. 

There  is,  for  example,  a  Sense  of  Sight  in  the 
religious  nature.  Neglect  this,  leave  it  un- 
developed, and  you  never  miss  it.  You  simply 
see  nothing.  But  develop  it  and  you  see 
God.  And  the  line  along  which  to  develop  it 
is  known  to  us.  Become  pure  in  heart.  The 
pure  in  heart  shall  see  God.  Here,  then,  is  one 
opening  for  soul-culture — the  avenue  through 
purity  of  heart  to  the  spiritual  seeing  of  God. 

Then  there  is  a  Sense  of  Sound.  Neglect 
this,  leave  it  undeveloped,  and  you  never  miss 
it.  You  simply  hear  nothing.  Develop  it,  and 
you  hear  God.  And  the  line  along  which  to 
develop  it  is  known  to  us.  Obey  Christ.  Be- 
come one  of  Christ's  flock.  "  The  sheep  hear 
His  voice,  and  He  calleth  them  by  name.'*' 
Here,  then,  is  another  opportunity  for  the  cult- 
ure of  the  soul — a  gateway  through  the  Shep« 
herd's  fold  to  hear  the  Shepherd's  voice. 


DEGENERATION. 

And  there  is  a  Sense  of  Touch  to  be  ac- 
quired— such  a  sense  as  the  woman  had  who 
touched  the  hem  of  Christ's  garment,  that 
wonderful  electric  touch  called  faith,  which 
moves  the  very  heart  of  God. 

And  there  is  Sense  of  Taste — a  spiritual 
hunger  after  God  ;  a  something  within  which 
tastes  and  sees  that  He  is  good.  And  there 
is  the  Talent  for  Inspiration.  Neglect  that, 
and  all  the  scenery  of  the  spiritual  world  is 
flat  and  frozen.  But  cultivate  it,  and  it  pene- 
trates the  whole  soul  with  sacred  fire,  and  illu- 
minates creation  with  God.  And  last  of  all 
there  is  the  great  capacity  for  Love,  even  for 
the  love  of  God — the  expanding  capacity  for 
feeling  more  and  more  its  height  and  depth,  its 
length  and  breadth.  Till  taat  is  felt  no  man 
can  really  understand  that  word,  "  so  great 
salvation,"  for  what  is  its  measure  but  that 
other  "  so  "  of  Christ — God  so  loved  the  world 
that  He  gave  His  only  begotten  Son  ?  Verily, 
how  shall  we  escape  if  we  neglect  that  ?  1 

1  For  the  scientific  basis  of  this  spiritual  law  the  follow- 
ing works  may  be  consulted  : — 

44  The  Origin  of  Species."  By  Charles  Darwin,  F.R.S. 
London  :  John  Murray.  1872. 

44  Degeneration."  By  E.  Kay  Lankester,  F.R.S. 
London  :  Macmillan.  1880. 

44  Der  Ursprung  der  Wirbelthiere  und  das  Princlp  des 
Functions-Wechsels."  Dr.  A.  Dorhn.  Leipzig  :  1875. 

44  Lessons  from  Nature."  By  St.  George  Mivart, 
F.R.S.  London  :  John  Murray.  1876. 

44  The  Natural  Conditions  of  Existence  as  they  Affect 
Animal  Life."  Karl  Semper.  London  :  C.  Kegan  Paul 
&  Co.  1881. 

9 


GROWTH. 


"  Is  not  the  evidence  of  Ease  on  the  very  front  of 
all  the  greatest  works  iu  existence  ?  Do  they  not  say 
plainly  to  us,  not  *  there  has  been  a  great  effort  here,' 
but  '  there  has  been  a  great  power  here '  ?  It  is  not 
the  weariness  of  mortality  but  the  strength  of  divin- 
ity, which  we  have  to  recognize  in  all  mighty  things, 
and  that  is  just  what  we  now  never  recognize,  but 
think  that  we  are  to  do  great  things  by  help  of  iron 
bars  and  perspiration  ;  alas  f  we  shall  do  nothing  that 
way,  but  lose  some  pw?***  of  our  cwu  weight." 


GROWTH. 

"  Consider  the  lilies  of  the  field  how  they  grow."— 
The  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 

"Nunquam  aliud  natura,  aliud  sapientia  dicit." — 
Juvenal. 

WHAT  gives  the  peculiar  point  to  this  object- 
lesson  from  the  lips  of  Jesus  is,  that  He  not 
only  made  the  illustration,  but  made  the  lilies. 
It  is  like  an  inventor  describing  his  own  ma- 
chine. He  made  the  lilies  and  He  made  me — 
both  on  the  same  broad  principle.  Both  to- 
gether, man  and  flower,  He  planted  deep  in 
the  Providence  of  God ;  but  as  men  are  dull  at 
studying  themselves  He  points  to  this  com- 
panion-phenomenon to  teach  us  how  to  live  a 
free  and  natural  life,  a  life  which  God  will  un- 
fold for  us,  without  our  anxiety,  as  He  unfolds 
the  flower.  For  Christ's  words  are  not  a 
general  appeal  to  consider  nature.  Men  are 
not  to  consider  the  lilies  simply  to  admire 
their  beauty,  to  dream  over  the  delicate 
strength  and  grace  of  stem  and  leaf.  The 
point  they  were  to  consider  was  how  they  grew 
— how  without  anxiety  or  care  the  flower  woke 
into  loveliness,  how  without  weaving  these 
leaves  were  woven,  how  without  toiling  these 
complex  tissues  spun  themselves,  and  how 

133 


134  GROWTH. 

without  any  effort  or  friction  the  whole  slowly 
came  ready-made  from  the  loom  of  God  in  its 
more  than  Solomon-like  glory.  "  So,"  He  says, 
making  the  application  beyond  dispute,  "  you 
care-worn,  anxious  men  must  grow.  You,  too, 
need  take  no  thought  for  your  life,  what  ye 
shall  eat  or  what  ye  shall  drink  or  what  ye 
shall  put  on.  For  if  God  so  clothe  the  grass  of 
the  field,  which  to-day  is,  and  to-morrow  is 
cast  into  the  oven,  shall  He  not  much  more 
clothe  you,  O  ye  of  little  faith?" 

This  nature-lesson  was  a  great  novelty  in 
its  day ;  but  all  men  now  who  have  even  a 
"  little  faith  "  have  learned  this  Christian  secret 
of  a  composed  life.  Apart  even  from  the 
parable  of  the  lily,  the  failures  of  the  past 
have  taught  most  of  us  the  folly  of  disquieting 
ourselves  in  vain,  and  we  have  given  up  the 
idea  that  by  taking  thought  we  can  add  a  cubit 
to  our  stature. 

But  no  sooner  has  our  life  settled  down  to 
this  calm  trust  in  God  than  a  new  and  graver 
anxiety  begins.  This  time  it  is  not  for  the 
body  we  are  in  travail,  but  for  the  soul.  For 
the  temporal  life  we  have  considered  the  lilies, 
but  how  is  the  spiritual  life  to  grow  ?  How 
are  we  to  become  better  men  ?  How  are  we  to 
grow  in  grace?  By  what  thought  shall  we 
add  the  cubits  to  the  spiritual  stature  and 
reach  the  fulness  of  the  Perfect  Man  ?  And 
because  we  know  ill  how  to  do  this,  the  old 
anxiety  comes  back  again  and  our  inner  life  is 
once  more  an  agony  of  conflict  and  remorse. 
After  all,  we  have  but  transferred  our  anxious 


GROWTH.  135 

thoughts  from  the  body  to  the  soul.  Our 
efforts  after  Christian  growth  seem  only  a 
succession  of  failures,  and  instead  of  rising 
into  the  beauty  of  holiness  our  life  is  a  daily 
heartbreak  and  humiliation. 

Now  the  reason  of  this  is  very  plain.  We 
have  forgotten  the  parable  of  the  lily.  Violent 
efforts  to  grow  are  right  in  earnestness,  but 
wholly  wrong  in  principle.  There  is  but  one 
principle  of  growth  both  for  the  natural  and 
spiritual,  for  animal  and  plant,  for  body  and 
soul.  For  all  growth  is  an  organic  thing.  And 
the  principle  of  growing  in  grace  is  once  more 
this,  " Consider  the  lilies  how  they  yrow" 

In  seeking  to  extend  the  analogy  from  the 
body  to  the  soul  there  are  two  things  about 
the  lilies'  growth,  two  characteristics  of  all 
growth,  on  which  one  must  fix  attention. 
These  are, — 

First,  Spontaneousness. 

Second,  Mysteriousness. 

I.  Spontaneousness.  There  are  three  lines 
along  which  one  may  seek  for  evidence  of  the 
Spontaneousness  of  growth.  The  first  is  Sci- 
ence. And  the  argument  here  could  not  bs 
summed  up  better  than  in  the  words  of  Jesus. 
The  lilies  grow,  He  says,  of  themselves ;  they 
toil  not,  neither  do  they  spin.  They  grow,  that 
is,  automatically,  spontaneously,  without  try- 
ing, without  fretting,  without  thinking.  Ap- 
plied in  any  direction,  to  plant,  to  animal,  to 
the  body  or  to  the  soul  this  law  holds.  A  boy 
grows,  for  example,  without  trying.  One  or 
two  simple  conditions  are  fulfilled,  and  the 


136  GROWTH. 

growth  goes  on.  He  thinks  probably  as  little 
about  the  condition  as  about  the  result;  he 
fulfils  the  conditions  by  habit,  the  result  fol- 
lows by  nature.  Both  processes  go  steadily 
on  from  year  to  year  apart  from  himself  and 
all  but  in  spite  of  himself.  One  would  never 
think  of  telling  a  boy  to  grow.  A  doctor  has 
no  prescription  for  growth.  He  can  tell  me  how 
growth  may  be  stunted  or  impaired,  but  the 
process  itself  is  recognized  as  beyond  control 
— one  of  the  few,  and  therefore  very  significant, 
things  which  Nature  keeps  in  her  own  hands. 
No  physician  of  souls,  in  like  manner,  has  any 
prescription  for  spiritual  growth.  It  is  the 
question  he  is  most  often  asked  and  most  often 
answers  wrongly.  He  may  prescribe  more 
earnestness,  more  prayer,  more  self-denial,  or 
more  Christian  work.  These  are  prescriptions 
for  something,  but  not  for  growth.  Not  that 
they  may  not  encourage  growth ;  but  the  soul 
grows  as  the  lily  grows,  without  trying,  with- 
out fretting,  without  ever  thinking.  Manuals 
of  devotion,  with  complicated  rules  for  get- 
ting on  in  the  Christian  life,  would  do  well 
sometimes  to  return  to  the  simplicity  of  nat- 
ure; and  earnest  souls  who  are  attempting 
sanctification  by  struggle  instead  of  sanctifica- 
tiou  by  faith  might  be  spared  much  humilia- 
tion by  learning  the  botany  of  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount.  There  can  indeed  be  no  other 
principle  of  growth  than  this.  It  is  a  vital 
act.  And  to  try  to  make  a  thing  grow  is  as 
absurd  as  to  help  the  tide  to  come  in  or  the 
•sun  rise. 


GROWTH.  187 

Another  argument  for  the  spontaneousness  of 
growth  is  universal  experience.  A  boy  not 
only  grows  without  trying,  but  he  cannot 
grow  if  he  tries.  No  man  by  taking  thought 
has  ever  added  a  cubit  to  his  stature ;  nor  has 
any  man  by  mere  working  at  his  soul  ever 
approached  nearer  to  the  stature  of  the  Lord 
Jesus.  The  stature  of  the  Lord  Jesus  was  not 
itself  reached  by  work,  and  he  who  thinks  to 
approach  its  mystical  height  by  anxious  effort  is 
really  receding  from  it.  Christ's  life  unfolded 
itself  from  a  divine  germ,  planted  centrally  in 
His  nature,  which  grew  as  naturally  as  a 
flower  from  a  bud.  This  flower  may  be  imi- 
tated ;  but  one  can  always  tell  an  artificial 
flower.  The  human  form  may  be  copied  in 
wax,  yet  somehow  one  never  fails  to  detect  the 
•difference.  And  this  precisely  is  the  difference 
between  a  native  growth  of  Christian  principle 
and  the  moral  copy  of  it.  The  one  is  natural, 
the  other  mechanical.  The  one  is  a  growth, 
the  other  an  accretion.  Now  this,  according  to 
modern  biology,  is  the  fundamental  distinction 
between  the  living  and  the  not  living,  between 
an  organism  and  a  crystal.  The  living  organ- 
ism  grows,  the  dead  crystal  increases.  The 
first  grows  vitally  from  within,  the  last  adds 
new  particles  from  the  outside.  The  whole 
difference  between  the  Christian  and  the  moral- 
ist  lies  here.  The  Christian  works  from  the 
centre,  the  moralist  from  the  circumference. 
The  one  is  an  organism,  in  the  centre  of  which 
is  planted  by  the  living  God  a  living  germ. 
The  other  is  a  crystal,  very  beautiful  it  may 


138  GROWTH. 

be ;  but  only  a  crystal — it  wants  the  vital  prin- 
ciple of  growth. 

And  one  sees  here  also,  what  is  sometimes 
very  difficult  to  see,  why  salvation  in  the  first 
instance  is  never  connected  directly  with  mo- 
rality. The  reason  is  not  that  salvation  does 
not  demand  morality,  but  that  it  demands  so 
much  of  it  that  the  moralist  can  never  reach 
up  to  it.  The  end  of  Salvation  is  perfection, 
the  Christlike  mind,  character  and  life. 
Morality  is  on  the  way  to  this  perfection;  it 
may  go  a  considerable  distance  towards  it,  but 
it  can  never  reach  it.  Only  Life  can  do  that. 
It  requires  something  with  enormous  power  of 
movement,  of  growth,  of  overcoming  obstacles, 
to  attain  the  perfect.  Therefore  the  man  who 
has  within  himself  this  great  formative  agent, 
Life,  is  nearer  the  end  than  the  man  who  has 
morality  alone.  The  latter  can  never  reach 
perfection;  the  former  must.  For  the  Life 
must  develop  out  according  to  its  type ;  and 
being  a  germ  of  the  Christ-life,  it  must  unfold 
into  a  Christ.  Morality,  at  the  utmost,  only 
develops  the  character  in  one  or  two  direc- 
tions. It  may  perfect  a  single  virtue  here  and 
there,  but  it  cannot  perfect  all.  And  espe- 
cially it  fails  always  to  give  that  rounded  har- 
mony of  parts,  that  perfect  tune  to  the  whole 
orchestra,  which  is  the  mark  characteristic  of 
life.  Perfect  life  is  not  merely  the  possession 
of  perfect  functions,  but  of  perfect  functions 
perfectly  adjusted  to  each  other  and  all  con- 
spiring to  a  single  result,  the  perfect  working 
«  the  whole  organism.  It  is  not  said  that  the 


GROWTH.  139 

character  will  develop  in  all  its  fulness  in 
this  life.  That  were  a  time  too  short  for  an 
Evolution  so  magnificent.  In  this  world  only 
the  cornless  ear  is  seen ;  sometimes  only  the 
small  yet  still  prophetic  blade.  The  sneer  at 
the  godly  man  for  his  imperfections  is  ill- 
judged.  A  blade  is  a  small  thing.  At  first  it 
grows  very  near  the  earth.  It  is  often  soiled 
and  crushed  and  downtrodden.  But  it  is  a 
living  thing.  .  That  great  dead  stone  beside  it 
is  more  imposing ;  only  it  will  never  be  any- 
thing else  than  a  stone.  But  this  small  blade 
— it  doth  not  yet  appear  ichat  it  shall  be. 

Seeing  now  that  Growth  can  only  be  synony- 
mous with  a  living  automatic  process,  it  is  all 
but  superfluous  to  seek  a  third  line  of  argUr 
ment  from  Scripture.  Growth  there  is  always 
described  in  the  language  of  physiology.  The 
regenerate  soul  is  a  new  creature.  The  Chris- 
tian is  a  new  man  in  Christ  Jesus.  He  adds 
the  cubits  to  his  stature  just  as  the  old  man 
does.  He  is  rooted  and  built  up  in  Christ ;  he 
abides  in  the  vine,  and  so  abiding,  not  toiling 
or  spinning,  brings  forth  fruit.  The  Chris- 
tian in  short,  like  the  poet,  is  born  not  made; 
and  the  fruits  of  his  character  are  not  manu- 
factured things  but  living  things,  things  which 
have  grown  from  the  secret  germ,  the  fruits  of 
the  living  Spirit.  They  are  not  the  produce  of 
this  climate,  but  exotics  from  a  sunnier  land. 

II.  But,  secondly,  besides  the  Spontaneous- 
ness  there  is  this  other  great  characteristic  of 
Growth — Mysteriousness.  Upon  this  quality 
depends  the  fact,  probably,  that  so  few  men 


140  GROWTH. 

ever  fathom  its  real  character.  "We  are  most 
onspiritual  always  in  dealing  with  the  simplest 
spiritual  things.  A  lily  grows  mysteriously, 
pushing  up  its  solid  weight  of  stem  and  leaf  in 
the  teeth  of  gravity.  Shaped  into  beauty  by 
secret  and  invisible  fingers,  the  flower  develops 
we  know  not  how.  But  we  do  not  wonder  at 
it.  Every  day  the  thing  is  done ;  it  is  Nature, 
it  is  God.  We  are  spiritual  enough  at  least 
to  understand  that.  But  when. the  soul  rises 
slowly  above  the  world,  pushing  up  its  delicate 
virtues  in  the  teeth  of  sin,  shaping  itself 
mysteriously  into  the  image  of  Christ,  we  deny 
that  the  power  is  not  of  man.  A  strong  will, 
we  say,  a  high  ideal,  the  reward  of  virtue, 
Christian  influence, — these  will  account  for 
it.  Spiritual  character  is  merely  the  product 
of  anxious  work,  self-command,  and  self- 
denial.  We  allow,  that  is  to  say,  a  miracle  to 
the  lily,  but  none  to  the  man.  The  lily  may 
grow;  the  man  must  fret  and  toil  and  spin. 

Now  grant  for  a  moment  that  by  hard  work 
and  self-restraint  a  man  may  attain  to  a  very 
high  character.  It  is  not  denied  that  this  can  be 
done.  But  what  is  denied  is  that  this  is  growth, 
and  that  this  process  is  Christianity.  The  fact 
that  you  can  account  for  i'  proves  that  it  is  not 
growth.  For  growth  -s  mysterious  ;  the  pecu- 
liarity of  it  is  that  v  ou  cannot  account  for  it. 
Mysteriousness,  as  Slozley  has  well  observed, 
is  "  the  test  of  spiritual  birth."  And  this  was 
Christ's  test.  "  The  wind  bloweth  where  it 
listeth.  Thou  hearest  the  sound  thereof,  but 
canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh  or  whither  it 


GROWTH.  141 

goeth,  so  is  every  one  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit." 
The  test  of  spirituality  is  that  you  cannot  tell 
whence  it  coraeth  or  whither  it  goeth.  If  yon 
can  tell,  if  you  can  account  for  it  on  philosophi- 
cal principles,  on  the  doctrine  of  influence,  on 
strength  of  will,  on  a  favorable  environment,  it 
is  not  growth.  It  may  be  so  far  a  success,  it 
may  be  a  perfectly  honest,  even  remarkable, 
and  praiseworthy  imitation,  but  it  is  not  the 
real  thing.  The  fruits  are  wax,  the  flowers 
artificial — you  can  tell  whence  it  cometh  and 
whither  it  goeth. 

The  conclusion  is,  then,  that  the  Christian 
is  a  unique  phenomenon.  You  cannot  account 
for  him.  And  if  you  could  he  would  not  be  a 
Christian.  Mozley  has  drawn  the  two  char- 
acters for  us  in  graphic  words:  "Take  an 
ordinary  man  of  the  world — what  he  thinks 
and  what  he  does,  his  whole  standard  of  duty 
is  taken  from  the  society  in  which  he  lives. 
It  is  a  borrowed  standard :  he  is  as  good  as 
other  people  are;  he  does,  in  the  way  of  duty, 
what  is  generally  considered  proper  and  be- 
coming among  those  with  whom  his  lot  is 
thrown.  He  reflects  established  opinion  on 
such  points.  He  follows  its  lead.  His  aims 
and  objects  in  life  again  are  taken  from  the 
world  around  him,  and  from  its  dictation. 
What  it  considers  honorable,  worth  having, 
advantageous  and  good,  he  thinks  so  too  and 
pursues  it.  His  motives  all  come  from  a  vis- 
ible quarter.  It  would  be  absurd  to  say  that 
there  is  any  mystery  in  such  a  character  as 
this,  because  it  is  formed  from  a  known  external 


142  GROWTH. 

influence — the  influence  of  social  opinion  and 
the  voice  of  the  world.  '  Whence  such  a  char- 
acter cometh '  we  see ;  we  venture  to  say  that 
the  source  and  origin  of  it  is  open  and 
palpable,  and  we  know  it  just  as  we  know  the 
physical  causes  of  many  common  facts." 

Then  there  is  the  other.  "  There  is  a  certain 
character  and  disposition  of  uiind  of  which  it 
is  true  to  say  that  'thou  canst  not  tell  whence 
it  oometh  or  whither  it  goeth.'  .  .  .  There 
are  those  who  stand  out  from  among  the  crowd,, 
which  reflects  merely  the  atmosphere  of  feel- 
ing and  standard  of  society  around  it,  with  an 
impress  upon  them  which  bespeaks  a  heavenly 
birth.  .  .  .  Now,  when  we  see  one  of  those 
characters,  it  is  a  question  which  we  ask  our- 
selves, How  has  the  person  become  possessed 
of  it?  Has  he  caught  it  from  society  around 
him?  That  cannot  be,  because  it  is  wholly 
different  from  that  of  the  world  around  him. 
Has  he  caught  it  from  the  inoculation  of  crowds 
and  masses,  as  the  mere  religious  zealot  catches- 
his  character  ?  That  cannot  be  either,  for  the 
type  is  altogether  different  from  that  which 
masses  of  men,  under  .ithusiastic  impulses, 
exhibit.  There  is  nothing  gregarious  in  this 
character;  it  is  the  individual's  own;  it  is  not 
borrowed,  it  is  not  a  reflection  of  any  fashion 
or  tone  of  the  world  utside ;  it  rises  up  from 
some  fount  within,  and  it  is  a  creation  of  which 
the  text  says,  We  know  not  whence  it  cometh."  * 

Now  we  have  all  met  these  two  characters 

*  University  Sermons,  up.  234-241. 


GROWTH.  143 

— the  one  eminently  respectable,  upright,  virt- 
uous, a  trifle  cold  perhaps,  and  generally,  when 
critically  examined,  revealing  somehow  the 
mark  of  the  tool ;  the  other  with  God's  breath 
still  upon  it,  an  inspiration  ;  not  more  virtuous, 
but  differently  virtuous;  not  more  humble, 
but  different,  wearing  the  meek  and  quiet 
spirit  artlessly  as  to  the  manner  born.  The 
other-worldliness  of  such  a  character  is  the 
thing  that  strikes  you  ;  you  are  not  prepared 
for  what  it  will  do  or  say  or  become  next,  Tor 
it  moves  from  a  far-off  centre,  and  in  spite  of 
its  transparency  and  sweetness,  that  presence 
fills  you  always  with  awe.  A  man  never  feels 
the  discord  of  his  own  life,  never  hears  the  jar  of 
the  machinery  by  which  he  tries  to  manufact- 
ure his  own  good  points,  till  he  has  stood  in 
the  stillness  of  such  a  presence.  Then  he  dis- 
cerns th"1  difference  between  growth  and  work. 
He  has  co  idered  the  lilies,  how  they  grow. 

We  have  now  seen  that  spiritual  growth  is  a 
process  maintained  and  secured  by  a  sponta- 
neous and  mysterious  inward  principle.  It  is  a 
spontaneous  principle  even  in  its  origin,  for 
\L  bloweth  where  it  listeth ;  mysterious  in  its 
operation,  for  we  can  never  tell  whence  it 
corneth ;  obscure  in  its  destination,  for  we  can- 
not tell  whence  it  goeth.  The  whole  process 
therefore  transcends  us ;  we  do  not  work,  we 
are  taken  in  hand — "  it  is  God  which  worketh 
i  i  us,  both  to  will  and  to  do  of  His  good  pleas- 
ure." We  do  not  plan — we  are  "created  in 
Christ  Jesus  unto  good  works,  which  God  hath 
before  ordained  that  we  should  walk  in  them." 


144  GROWTH. 

There  may  be  an  obvious  objection  to  all 
this.  It  takes  away  all  conflict  from  the  Chris- 
tian  life?  It  makes  man,  does  it  not,  mere  clay 
in  the  hands  of  the  potter  ?  It  crushes  the  old 
character  to  make  a  new  one,  and  destroys 
man's  responsibility  for  his  own  soul  ? 

Now  we  are  not  concerned  here  in  once  more 
striking  the  time-honored  "  balance  between 
faith  and  works."  We  are  considering  how 
lilies  grow  and  in  a  specific  connection, 
namely,  to  discover  the  attitude  of  mind  which 
the  Christian  should  preserve  regarding  his 
spiritual  growth.  That  attitude,  primarily,  is 
to  be  free  from  care.  We  are  not  lodging  a 
plea  for  inactivity  of  the  spiritual  energies,  but 
for  the  tranquillity  of  the  spiritual  mind. 
Christ's  protest  is  not  against  work,  but 
against  anxious  thought;  and  rather,  there- 
fore, than  complement  the  lesson  by  showing 
the  other  side,  we  take  the  risk  of  still  further 
extending  the  plea  in  the  original  direction. 

What  is  the  relation,  to  recur  again  to  anal- 
ogy, between  growth  and  work  in  a  boy  ?  Con- 
sciously, there  is  no  relation  at  all.  The  boy 
never  thinks  of  connecting  his  work  with  his 
growth.  Work  in  fact  is  one  thing  and  growth 
another,  and  it  is  so  in  the  spiritual  lifc .  Tf  it 
be  asked  therefore,  Is  the  Chris' in,?,  w  ^ng  in 
these  ceaseless  and  agonizing  efforts  after 
growth  ?  the  answer  is,  Yes,  he  is  quite  wrong, 
or  at  least,  he  is  quite  mistaken.  When  a  boy 
takes  a  meal  or  denies  himself  indigestible 
things,  he  does  not  say,  "  All  this  will  minister 
to  my  growth " ;  or  when  he  runs  a  race  La 


GROWTH.  145 

does  not  say,  "  This  will  help  the  next  cubit  of 
my  stature."  It  may  or  it  may  not  be  true  that 
these  things  will  help  his  stature,  "but,  if  he 
thinks  of  this,  Ms  idea  of  growth  is  morbid. 
And  this  is  the  point  we  are  dealing  with.  His 
anxiety  here  is  altogether  irrelevant  and  super- 
fluous. Nature  is  far  more  bountiful  than  we 
think.  When  she  gives  us  energy  she  asks 
none  of  it  back  to  expend  on  our  own  growth. 
She  will  attend  to  that.  "  Give  your  work," 
she  says,  "  and  your  anxiety  to  others ;  trutt 
me  to  add  the  cubits  to  your  stature.1  If  God 
is  adding  to  our  spiritual  stature,  unfolding 
the  new  nature  within  us,  it  is  a  mistake  to 
keep  twitching  at  the  petals  with  our  coarse 
fingers.  We  must  seek  to  kt  thi  Creative 
Hand  alone.  "It  is  God  which  giveth  the  in- 
crease." Yet  we  never  know  how  little  we 
liave  learned  of  the  fundamental  principle  of 
Christianity  till  we  discover  how  much  we  are 
all  bent  on  supplementing  God's  free  grace. 
If  God  is  spending  work  upon  a  Christian,  let 
him  be  still  and  know  that  it  is  God.  And  if 
he  wants  work,  he  will  find  it  there — in  the 
being  stilL 

Not  that  there  is  no  work  for  him  who  would 
grow,  to  do.  There  is  work,  and  severe  work, 
— work  so  great  that  the  worker  deserves  to 
have  himself  relieved  of  all  that  is  superfluouc 
•during  his  task.  It'  the  amount  of  energy  1  >st 
in  trying  to  grow  were  spent  in  fulfilling  rather 
the  conditions  of  qrrowth,  we  should  have  many 
more  jubits  to  show  for  our  stature.  It  is  with 
thise  conditions  that  the  personal  work  of  th* 
10 


146  GROWTH. 

Christian  is  chiefly  concerned.  Observe  for  a 
moment  what  they  are,  and  their  exact  relation. 
For  its  growth  the  plant  needs  heat,  light,  air, 
and  moisture.  A  man,  therefore,  must  go  in 
search  of  these,  or  their  spiritual  equivalents, 
and  this  is  his  work?  By  no  means.  The 
Christian's  work  is  not  yet.  Does  the  plant 
go  in  search  of  its  conditions  ?  Nay,  the  con- 
ditions come  to  the  plant.  It  no  more  manu- 
factures the  heat,  light,  afr,  and  moisture,  than 
it  manufactures  its  own  stem.  It  finds  them 
all  around  it  in  Nature.  It  simply  stands  still 
with  its  leaves  spread  out  in  unconscious 
prayer,  and  Nature  lavishes  upon  it  these  and 
all  other  bounties,  bathing  it  in  sunshine,  pour- 
ing the  nourishing  air  over  and  over  it,  reviving 
it  graciously  with  its  nightly  dew.  Grace,  too, 
is  as  free  as  the  air.  The  Lord  God  is  a  Sun. 
He  is  as  the  Dew  to  Israel.  A  man  has  no 
more  to  manufacture  these  than  he  has  to 
manufacture  his  own  soul.  He  stands  sur- 
rounded by  them,  bathed  in  them,  beset  behind 
and  before  by  them.  He  lives  and  moves  and 
has  his  being  in  them.  How  then  shall  he  go 
in  search  of  them  ?  Do  not  they  rather  go  in 
search  of  him  ?  Does  he  not  feel  how  they 
press  themselves  upon  him?  Does  he  not 
know  how  unweariedly  they  appeal  to  him? 
Has  he  not  heard  how  they  are  sorrowful  when 
he  will  not  have  them  ?  His  work,  therefore, 
is  not  yet.  The  voice  still  says,  "  Be  still." 

The  conditions  of  growth  then,  and  the  in- 
ward principle  of  growth  being  both  sup- 
plied by  Nature,  the  thing  man  has  to  do,  the 


GROWTH.  147 

little  junction  left  for  him  to  complete,  is  to 
apply  the  one  to  the  other.  He  manufactures 
nothing ;  he  earns  nothing ;  he  need  be  anxious 
for  nothing ;  his  one  duty  is  to  be  in  these  con- 
ditions, to  abide  in  them,  to  allow  grace  to 
play  over  him,  to  be  still  therein  and  know 
that  this  is  God. 

The  conflict  begins  and  prevails  in  all  its  life- 
long agony  the  moment  a  man  forgets  this, 
He  struggles  to  grow  himself  instead  of  strug- 
gling to  get  back  again  into  position.  He 
makes  the  church  into  a  workshop  when  God 
meant  it  to  be  a  beautiful  garden.  And  even 
in  his  closet,  where  only  should  reign  silence — 
a  silence  as  of  the  mountains  whereon  the 
lilies  grow — is  heard  the  roar  and  tumult  of 
machinery.  True,  a  man  will  often  have  to 
wrestle  with  his  God — but  not  for  growth.  The 
Christian  life  is  a  composed  life.  The  Gospel 
is  Peace.  Yet  the  most  anxious  people  in  the 
world  are  Christians — Christians  who  misun- 
derstand the  nature  of  growth.  Life  is  a  per- 
petual self-condemning  because  they  are  not 
growing.  And  the  effect  is  not  only  the  loss 
of  tranquillity  to  the  individual.  The  energies 
which  are  meant  to  be  spent  on  the  work  of 
Christ  are  consumed  in  the  soul's  own  fever. 
So  long  as  the  Church's  activities  are  spent  on 
growing  there  is  nothing  to  spare  for  the  world. 
A  soldier's  time  is  not  spent  in  earning  the 
money  to  buy  his  armor,  in  finding  food  and 
raiment,  in  seeking  shelter.  His  king  provides 
these  things  that  he  may  be  the  more  at 
liberty  to  fight  his  battles.  So,  for  the  soldier 


148  GEOWTH. 

•of  the  Cross  all  is  provided.  His  Government 
tms  planned  to  leave  him  free  for  the  King- 
dom's work. 

The  problem  of  the  Christian  life  finally  is 
simplified  to  this — man  has  but  to  preserve 
the  right  attitude.  To  abide  in  Christ,  to  be 
in  position,  that  is  all.  Much  work  is  done  on 
board  a  ship  crossing  the  Atlantic.  Yet  none 
of  it  is  spent  on  making  the  ship  go.  The 
sailor  but  harnesses  his  vessel  to  the  Mind. 
He  puts  his  sail  and  rudder  in  position,  and  lo, 
the  miracle  is  wrought.  So  everywhere  God 
creates,  man  utilizes.  All  the  work  of  the 
•world  is  merely  a  taking  advantage  of  energies 
already  there.1  God  gives  the  wind  and  the 
water,  and  the  heat ;  man  but  puts  himself  in 
the  way  of  the  wind,  fixes  his  water-wheel  in 
the  way  of  the  river,  puts  his  piston  in  the 
vray  of  the  steam  ;  and  so  holding  himself  in 
position  before  God's  Spirit,  all  the  energies  of 
Omnipotence  course  within  his  soul.  He  is 
like  a  tree  planted  by  a  river  whose  leaf  is 
green  and  whose  fruits  fail  not.  Such  is  the 
deeper  lesson  to  be  learned  from  considering 
the  lily.  It  is  the  voice  of  Nature  echoing  the 
•whole  evangel  of  Jesus,  "  Come  unto  Me,  and  I 
will  give  you  rest."  ;  ^ 

iSeeBushnell's  " 


DEATH. 


"  What  could  be  easier  than  to  form  a  catena  of  the 
most  philosophical  defenders  of  Christianity,  who 
have  exhausted  language  in  declaring  the  impotence 
of  the  unassisted  intellect  ?  Comte  has  not  more  ex- 
plicitly enounced  the  incapacity  of  man  to  deal  with 
the  Absolute  and  the  Infinite  than  the  whole  series 
of  orthodox  writers.  Trust  your  reason,  we  have  been 
told  till  we  are  tired  of  the  phrase,  and  you  will  be- 
come Atheists  or  Agnostics.  "We  take  you  at  youi 
word ;  we  become  Agnostics." 

STEPHEN. 


DEATH. 

'*  To  be  carnally  minded  is  Death." — Paul. 
*'  I  do  not  wonder  at  what  men  suffer   but  I  wonder 
often  at  what  they  lose." — Buskin. 

"  DEATH,"  wrote  Faber,  "  is  an  unsurveyed 
land,  an  unarranged  Science."  Poetry  draws 
near  Death  only  to  hover  over  it  for  a  moment 
and  withdraw  in  terror.  History  knows  it 
simply  as  a  universal  fact.  Philosophy  finds 
it  among  the  mysteries  of  being,  the  one  great 
mystery  of  being  not.  All  contributions  to 
this  dread  theme  are  marked  by  an  essential 
vagueness,  and  every  avenue  of  approach 
seems  darkened  by  impenetrable  shadow. 

But  modern  Biology  has  found  it  part  of  its 
work  to  push  its  way  into  this  silent  land, 
and  at  last  the  world  is  confronted  with  a 
scientific  treatment  of  Death.  Not  that  much 
is  added  to  the  old  conception,  or  much  taken 
from  it.  What  it  is,  this  certain  Death  with 
its  uncertain  issues,  we  know  as  little  as  before. 
But  we  can  define  more  clearly  and  attach  a 
narrower  meaning  to  the  momentous  symbol. 

The  interest  of  the  investigation  here  lies  in 
the  fact  that  Death  is  one  of  the  outstanding 
things  in  Nature  which  has  an  acknowledged 
spiritual  equivalent.  The  prominence  of  the 

151 


152  DEATH. 

word  in  the  vocabulary  of  Revelation  cannot 
be  exaggerated.  Next  to  Life  the  most  preg- 
nant symbol  in  religion  is  its  antithesis,  Death. 
And  from  the  time  that  "  If  thou  eatest  thereof 
thou  shalt  surely  die  "  was  heard  in  Paradise, 
this  solemn  word  has  been  linked  with  human 
interests  of  eternal  mom  nt. 

Notwithstanding  the  unparalleled  emphasis 
upon  this  term  in  the  Christian  system,  there 
is  none  more  feebly  expressive  the  ordinary 
mind.  That  mystery  which  surrounds  the 
word  in  the  natural  world  shrouds  only  too 
completely  its  spiritual  import.  The  reluctance 
which  prevents  men  from  investigating  the 
secrets  of  the  King  of  Terrors  is  for  a  certain 
length  entitled  to  respect.  But  it  has  left  the- 
ology with  only  the  vaguest  materials  to  con- 
struct a  doctrine  which,  intelligently  enforced, 
ought  to  appeal  to  all  men  with  convincing 
power  and  lend  the  most  effective  argument  to 
Christianity.  Whatever  may  have  been  its 
influence  in  the  past,  its  threat  is  gone  for  the 
modern  world.  The  word  has  grown  weak. 
Ignorance  has  robbed  the  Grave  of  all  its  terror, 
and  platitude  despoilt  Death  of  its  sting. 
Death  itself  is  ethically  dead.  Which  of  us, 
for  example,  enters  fully  into  the  meaning  of 
words  like  these :  "  She  that  liveth  in  pleasure 
is  dead  while  she  liveth  "  ?  Who  allows  ade- 
quate weight  to  the  metaphor  in  the  Pauline 
phrase,  "  To  be  carnally  minded  is  Death  ; n 
or  in  this,  "  The  wages  of  sin  is  Death  "  ?  Or 
what  theology  has  translated  into  the  language 
of  human  life  the  terrific  practical  import  of 


DEATH.  153 

«  Dead  in  trespasses  and  sins  w  ?  To  seek  to 
make  these  phrases  once  more  real  and  burn- 
ing ;  to  clothe  time-worn  formulae  with  living 
truth ;  to  put  the  deepest  ethical  meaning  into 
the  gravest  symbol  of  Nature,  and  fill  up  with 
its  full  consequence  the  darkest  threat  of  Rev- 
elation— these  are  the  objects  before  us  now. 

What*,  then,  is  Death?  Is  it  possible  to 
define  it  and  embody  its  essential  meaning  in 
an  intelligible  proposition  ? 

The  most  recent  and  the  most  scientific 
attempt  to  investigate  Death  we  owe  to  the 
biological  studies  of  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer.  In 
his  search  for  the  meaning  of  Life  the  word 
Death  crosses  his  path,  and  he  turns  aside  for 
a  moment  to  define  it.  Of  course  what  Death 
is  depends  upon  what  Life  is.  Mr.  Herbert 
Spencer's  definition  of  Life,  it  is  well  known, 
has  been  subjected  to  serious  criticism.  While 
it  has  shed  much  light  on  many  of  the  phe- 
nomena of  Life,  it  cannot  be  affirmed  that  it  has 
taken  its  place  in  science  as  the  final  solution 
of  the  fundamental  problem  of  biology.  No 
definition  of  Life,  indeed,  that  has  yet  appeared 
can  be  said  to  be  even  approximately  correct. 
Its  mysterious  quality  evades  us  ;  and  we  have 
to  be  content  with  outward  characteristics  and 
accompaniments,  leaving  the  thing  itself  an 
unsolved  riddle.  At  the  same  time  Mr.  Her- 
bert Spencer's  masterly  elucidation  of  the  chief 
phenomena  of  Life  has  placed  philosophy  and 
science  under  many  obligations,  and  in  the 
paragraphs  which  follow  we  shall  have  to 
incur  a  further  debt  on  behalf  of  religion. 


154  DEATH. 

The  meaning  of  Death  depending,  as  has 
been  said,  on  the  meaning  of  Life,  we  must 
first  set  ourselves  to  grasp  the  leading  charac- 
teristics which  distinguish  living  things.  To 
a  physiologist  the  living  organism  is  distin- 
guished from  the  not-living  by  the  per- 
formance of  certain  functions.  These  func- 
tions are  four  in  number — Assimilation,  Waste, 
Reproduction,  and  Growth.  Nothing  could 
be  a  more  interesting  task  than  to  point  out 
the  co-relatives  of  these  in  the  spiritual  sphere, 
to  show  in  what  ways  the  discharge  of  these 
functions  represent  the  true  manifestations  of 
spiritual  life,  and  how  the  failure  to  perform 
them  constitutes  spiritual  Death.  But  it  will 
bring  us  more  directly  to  the  specific  subject 
before  us  if  we  follow  rather  the  newer  bio- 
logical lines  of  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer.  Accord- 
ing to  his  definition,  Life  is  "  The  definite  com- 
bination of  heterogeneous  changes,  both  simul- 
taneous and  successive,  in  correspondence  with 
external  co-existences  and  sequences,"  a  or  more 
shortly  "  The  continuous  adjustment  of  inter- 
nal relations  to  external  relations."2  An  ex- 
ample or  two  will  render  these  important  state- 
ments at  once  intelligible. 

The  essential  characteristic  of  a  living 
organism,  according  to  these  definitions,  is 
that  it  is  in  vital  connection  with  its  general 
surroundings.  A  human  being,  for  instance, 
is  in  direct  contact  with  the  earth  and  air, 
With  all  surrounding  things,  with  the  warmth 

»  "  Principles  of  Biology,"  vol.  L  p.  74.          « Ibid. 


DEATH.  155 

of  the  sun,  with  the  music  of  birds,  with  the 
countless  influences  and  activities  of  nature 
and  of  his  fellow-men.  In  biological  language 
he  is  said  th  s  to  be  "  in  correspondence  with 
his  environment."  He  is,  that  is  to  say,  in 
active  and  vital  connection  with  them,  influenc- 
ing them  possibly,  but  especially  being  in- 
fluenced by  them.  Now  it  is  in  virtue  of  this 
correspondence  that  he  is  entitled  to  be  called 
alive.  So  long  as  he  is  in  correspondence  with 
any  given  point  of  his  environment,  he  lives. 
To  keep  up  this  correspondence  is  to  keep  up 
life.  If  his  environment  changes  he  must  in- 
stantly adjust  himself  to  the  change.  And  he 
continues  living  only  as  long  as  he  succeeds 
in  adjusting  himself  to  the  "  simultaneous  and 
successive  changes  in  his  environment,"  as 
these  occur.  What  is  meant  by  a  change  in 
his  environment  may  be  understood  from  an 
example,  which  will  at  the  same  time  define 
more  clearly  the  intimacy  of  the  relation 
between  environment  and  organism.  Let  us 
take  the  case  of  a  civil-servant  whose  environ- 
ment is  a  district  in  India.  It  is  a  region  sub- 
ject to  occasional  and  prolonged  droughts  re- 
sulting in  periodical  famines.  When  such  a 
period  of  scarcity  arises,  he  proceeds  immedi- 
ately to  adjust  himself  to  this  external  change. 
Having  the  power  of  locomotion,  he  may  re- 
move himself  to  a  more  fertile  district,  or,  pos- 
sessing the  means  of  purchase,  he  may  add  to 
his  old  environment  by  importation  the  "  ex- 
ternal relations,"  necessary  to  continued  life. 
But  if  from  any  cause  he  fails  to  adjust  him- 


156  DEATH. 

sel-  to  the  altered  circumstances,  his  body  ia 
thrown  ou  f  correspondence  '.•dtL  his  environ- 
ment, his  <;  internal  relations  "  are  no  longer 
ad 'us led  to  his  "  external  relations,'  and  his 
life  must  cease. 

In  ordinary  circumstances,  and  in  health, 
the  human  organism  is  in  thorough  correspond- 
ence with  its  surroundings ;  but  when  any 
part  of  the  organism  by  disease  or  accident  is 
thrown  out  of  correspondence,  it  is  in  that 
relation  dead. 

This  Death,  this  want  of  correspondence, 
may  be  either  partial  or  complete.  Part  of  the 
organism  may  be  dead  to  a  part  of  the  environ- 
ment, or  the  whole  to  the  whole.  Thus  the 
victim  of  famine  may  have  a  certain  number 
of  his  correspondences  arrested  by  the  change 
in  his  environment,  but  not  all.  Luxuries 
which  he  once  enjoyed  no  longer  enter  the 
country,  animals  which  once  furnished  his 
table  are  driven  from  it.  These  still  exist,  but 
they  are  beyond  the  limit  of  his  correspondence. 
In  relation  to  these  things  therefore  he  is  dead. 
In  one  sense  it  might  be  said  that  it  was  the 
environment  which  played  him  false ;  in  an- 
other, that  it  was  his  own  organization — that 
he  was  unable  to  adjust  himself,  or  did  not. 
But,  however  caused,  he  pays  the  penalty  with 
partial  Death. 

Suppose  next  the  case  of  a  man  who  is 
thrown  out  of  correspondence  with  a  part  of 
his  environment  by  some  physical  infirmity. 
Let  it  be  that  by  disease  or  accident  he  has  been 
deprived  of  the  use  of  his  ears.  The  deaf  man. 


DEATH.  157 

in  virtue  of  this  imperfection,  is  thrown  out  of 
rapport  with  a  large  and  well-defined  part  of 
the  environment,  namely,  its  sounds.  With 
regard  to  that  "external  relation,"  therefore, 
he  is  no  longer  living.  Part  of  him  may  truly 
be  held  to  be  insensible  or  "Dead."  A  man 
who  is  also  blind  is  thrown  out  of  correspond- 
ence with  another  large  part  of  his  environ- 
ment. The  beauty  of  sea  and  sky,  the  forms 
of  cloud  and  mountain,  the  features  and  gest- 
ures of  friends,  are  to  him  as  if  they  were  not. 
They  are  there,  solid  and  real,  but  not  to  him ; 
he  is  still  further  "  Dead."  Next,  let  it  be  con- 
ceived, the  subtle  finger  of  cerebral  disease 
lays  hold  of  him.  His  whole  brain  is  affected, 
-and  the  sensory  nerves,  the  medium  of  com- 
munication with  the  environment,  cease  al- 
together to  acquaint  him  with  what  is  doing 
in  the  outside  world.  The  outside  world  is 
still  there,  but  not  to  him ;  he  is  still  fur- 
ther "  Dead."  And  so  the  death  of  parts  goes 
on.  He  becomes  less  and  less  alive.  "  Were 
the  animal  frame  not  the  complicated  machine 
we  have  seen  it  to  be  death  might  come  as  a  sim- 
ple and  gradual  dissolution,  the  <  sans  every- 
thing' being  the  last  stage  of  the  successive 
loss  of  fundamental  powers." 1  But  finally 
some  important  part  of  the  mere  animal  frame- 
work that  remains  breaks  down.  The  corre- 
lation with  the  other  parts  is  very  intimate, 
and  the  stoppage  of  correspondence  with  one 
means  an  interference  with  the  work  of  the 

1  Foster's  "  Physiology/'  p.  642. 


158  DEATH. 

rest.  Something  central  has  snapped,  and  all 
are  thrown  out  of  work.  The  lungs  refuse  to 
correspond  with  the  air,  the  heart  with  the 
blood.  There  is  now  no  correspondence  what- 
ever with  environment — the  thing,  for  it  is  now 
a  thing,  is  Dead. 

This  then  is  Death ;  "  part  of  the  framework 
breaks  down,"  "  something  has  snapped  " — 
these  phrases  by  which  we  describe  the  phases 
of  death  yield  their  full  meaning.  They  are 
different  ways  of  saying  that "  correspondence" 
has  ceased.  And  the  scientific  meaning  of 
Death  now  becomes  clearly  intelligible.  Dying 
is  that  breakdown  in  an  organism  which  throws 
it  out  of  correspondence  with  some  necessary 
part  of  the  environment.  Death  is  the  result 
produced,  the  want  of  correspondence.  We  do 
not  say  that  this  is  all  that  is  involved.  But 
this  is  the  root  idea  of  Death — Failure  to 
adjust  internal  relations  to  external  relations, 
failure  to  repair  the  broken  inward  connection 
sufficiently  to  enable  it  to  correspond  again 
with  the  old  surroundings.  These  preliminary 
statements  may  be  fitly  closed  with  the  wordc 
of  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer :  "  Death  by  natural 
decay  occurs  because  in  old  age  the  relations 
between  u.,oi milation,  oxidation,  and  genesis 
of  force  going  on  in  the  organism  gradually 
fall  out  of  correspondence  •*  "ith  the  relations 
between  oxygen  and  food  an-'  absorption  of 
heat  by  the  environment.  Death  from  disease 
arises  either  when  the  organism  is  congenitally 
defective  in  its  power  to  balance  the  ordinary 
external  actions  by  the  ordinary  internal  ac- 


DEATH.  159 

tions,  or  when  there  has  taken  place  some  un- 
tisual  external  action  to  which  there  was  no 
answering  internal  action.  Death  by  accident 
implies  some  neighboring  mechanical  changes 
of  which  the  causes  are  either  unnoticed  from 
inattention,  or  are  so  intricate  that  their  results 
cannot  be  foreseen,  and  consequently  certain 
relations  in  the  organism  are  not  adjusted  to 
the  relations  in  the  environment."  l 

With  the  help  of  these  plain  biological  terms 
we  may  now  proceed  to  examine  the  parallel 
phenomenon  of  Death  in  the  spiritual  world. 
The  factors  with  which  we  have  to  deal  are 
two  in  number  as  before — Organism  and  En- 
vironment. The  relation  between  them  may 
once  more  be  denominated  by  "  correspond- 
ence." And  the  truth  to  be  emphasized  re- 
solves itself  into  this,  that  Spiritual  Death  is  a 
want  of  correspondence  between  the  organism 
and  the  spiritual  en  .ronmcnt. 

What  is  the  spiritual  environment  ?  This 
term  obviously  demands  some  further  defini- 
tion. For  Death  is  a  relative  term.  And 
before  we  can  define  Death  in  the  spiritual 
world  we  must  first  apprehend  the  particular 
relation  with  reference  to  which  the  expression 
is  to  be  employed.  We  shall  best  reach  the 
nature  of  this  relation  by  considering  for  a 
moment  the  subject  of  environment  generally. 
By  the  natural  environment  we  mean  the  entire 
surroundings  of  the  natural  man,  the  entire  ex- 
ternal world  in  which  he  lives  and  moves  and 

1  Op.  cit.,  pp.  88,  89. 


160  DEATH. 

has  his  being.  It  is  not  involved  in  the  idea 
that  either  with  all  or  part  of  this  environment 
he  is  in  immediate  correspondence.  Whether 
he  corresponds  with  it  or  not,  it  is  there.  There 
is  in  fact  a  conscious  environment  and  an 
environment  of  which  he  is  not  conscious ;  and 
it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  conscious 
environment  is  not  all  the  environment  that  is. 
All  that  surrounds  him,  all  that  environs  him, 
conscious  or  unconscious,  is  environment. 
The  moon  and  stars  are  part  of  it,  though  in 
the  daytime  he  may  not  see  them.  The  polar 
rogions  are  parts  of  it,  though  he  is  seldom 
aware  of  their  influence.  In  its  widest  sense 
environment  simply  means  all  else  that  is. 

Now  it  will  next  be  manifest  that  different 
organisms  correspond  with  this  environment 
in  varying  degrees  of  completeness  or  incom- 
pleteness. At  the  bottom  of  the  biological 
scale  we  find  organisms  which  have  only  the 
most  limited  correspondence  with  their  sur- 
roundings. A  tree,  for  example,  corresponds 
with  the  soil  about  its  stem,  with  the  sunlight, 
and  with  the  air  in  contact  with  its  leaves. 
But  it  is  shut  off  by  I  comparatively  low  de- 
relopment  from  a  whole  wo:  "d  to  which  higher 
forms  of  life  have  additional  access.  The  want 
of  locomotion  alone  circum  .cribes  most  seri- 
ously its  area  of  correspond  nre,  so  that  to  a 
large  part  of  surrounding  i.atur-  it  may  truly 
be  said  to  be  dead.  So  far  s  consciousness  is 
concerned,  we  should  bu  ;u:  tified  indeed  in  say- 
ing that  it  was  not  alive  it  all.  The  murmur  of 
the  stream  which  bathes  its  roots  affects  it  not 


DEATH.  161 

The  marvellous  insect-life  beneath  its  shadow 
excites  in  it  no  wonder.  The  tender  mater- 
nity of  the  bird  which  has  its  nest  among  its 
leaves  stirs  no  responsive  sympathy.  It  cannot 
correspond  with  those  things.  To  stream  and 
insect  and  bird  it  is  insensible,  torpid,  dead. 
For  this  is  Death,  this  irresponsiveness. 

The  bird,  again,  which  is  higher  in  the  scale 
of  life,  corresponds  with  a  wider  environment. 
The  stream  is  real  to  it,  and  the  insect.  It 
knows  what  lies  behind  the  hill ;  it  listens  to 
the  love-song  of  its  mate.  And  to  much  be- 
sides beyond  the  simple  world  of  the  tree  this- 
higher  organism  is  alive.  The  bird  we  should 
say  is  more  living  than  the  tree ;  it  has  a  cor- 
respondence with  a  larger  area  of  environment. 
But  this  bird-life  is  not  yet  the  highest  life. 
Even  within  the  immediate  bird-environment 
there  is  much  to  which  the  bird  must  still  be 
held  to  be  dead.  Introduce  a  higher  organism, 
place  man  himself  within  this  same  environ- 
ment, and  see  how  much  more  living  he  is.  A 
hundred  things  which  the  bird  never  saw  in 
insect,  stream  and  tree  appeal  to  him.  Each, 
single  sense  has  something  to  correspond  with. 
Each  faculty  finds  an  appropriate  exercise. 
Man  is  a  mass  of  correspondences,  and  be- 
cause of  these,  because  he  is  alive  to  countless 
objects  and  influences  to  which  lower  organisms 
are  dead,  he  is  the  most  living  of  all  creatures. 

The  relativity  of  Death  will  now  have  be- 
come sufficiently  obvious.  Man  being  lelt  out 
of  account,  all  organisms  are  seen  as  it  were 
to  be  partly  living  and  partly  dead.  The  tree, 
11 


162  DEATH. 

in  correspondence  with  a  narrow  area  of  envi« 
ronment,  is  to  that  extent  alive ;  to  all  beyond, 
to  the  all  but  infinite  area  beyond,  it  is  dead. 
A  still  wider  portion  of  this  vast  area  is 
the  possession  of  the  insect  and  the  bird. 
Theirs  also,  nevertheless,  is  but  a  little  world, 
and  to  an  immense  further  area  insect  and  bird 
are  dead.  All  organisms  likewise  are  living 
and  dead — living  to  all  within  the  circum- 
ference of  their  correspondences,  dead  to  all 
beyond.  As  we  rise  in  the  scale  of  life,  how- 
ever, it  will  be  observed  that  the  sway  of  Death 
is  gradually  weakened.  More  and  more  of  the 
environment  becomes  accessible  as  we  ascend, 
and  the  domain  of  lif  in  this  way  slowly  ex- 
tends in  ever- widening  circles.  But  until  man 
appears  there  is  no  organism  to  correspond 
with  the  whole  environment.  Till  then  the 
outermost  circles  have  no  correspondents.  To 
the  inhabitants  of  the  innermost  spheres  they 
are  as  if  they  were  not. 

Now  follows  a  momentous  question.  Is 
man  in  correspondence  with  the  whole  environ- 
ment? When  we  reach  the  highest  living 
organism,  is  the  final  blow  dealt  to  the  king- 
dom of  Death  ?  Has  the  last  acre  of  the  infinite 
area  been  taken  in  by  his  finite  faculties  ?  Is 
his  conscious  environment  the  whole  environ- 
ment? Or  is  there,  among  these  outermost 
circles,  one  which  with  his  multitudinous  cor- 
respondences he  fails  to  reach  ?  If  so,  this  is 
Death.  The  question  of  Life  or  Death  to  him 
Is  the  question  of  the  amount  of  remaining  en- 
vironment he  is  able  to  compass.  If  there  be 


DEATH.  16» 

one  circle  or  one  segment  of  a  circle  which  he 
yet  fails  to  reach,  to  correspond  with,  to  know, 
to  be  influenced  by,  he  is,  with  regard  to  that 
circle  or  segment,  dead. 

What  then,  practically,  is  the  state  of  the 
case?  Is  man  in  correspondence  with  the 
whole  environment  or  is  he  not  ?  There  is  but 
one  answer.  He  is  not.  Of  men  generally  it 
cannot  be  said  that  they  are  in  living  contact 
with  that  part  of  the  environment  which  i» 
called  the  spiritual  world.  In  introducing  thi» 
new  term  spiritual  worM,  observe,  \ve  are  not 
interpolating  a  new  factor.  This  is  an  es- 
sential part  of  the  old  idea.  We  have  been 
following  out  an  ever-widening  environment 
from  point  to  point,  and  now  we  reach  the 
outermost  zones.  The  spiritual  world  is 
simply  the  outermost  segment,  circle,  or 
circles,  of  the  natural  world.  For  purposes  of 
convenience  we  separate  the  two  just  as  we 
separate  the  animal  world  from  the  plant. 
But  the  animal  world  and  the  plant  world  are 
the  same  world.  They  are  different  parts  of 
one  environment.  And  the  natural  and  spir- 
itual are  likewise  one.  The  inner  circle* 
are  called  the  natural,  the  outer  the  spiritual. 
And  we  call  them  spiritual  simply  because 
they  are  beyond  us  or  beyond  a  part  of  us. 
What  we  have  correspondence  with,  that  we 
call  natural ;  what  we  have  little  or  no  cor- 
respondence with,  tha',  we  call  spiritual.  But 
when  the  appropriate  corresponding  organism 
nnpears,  the  organism,  that  is,  whi-jh  can 
ii.i'v  communicate  with  these  outer  circles, 


164  DEATH. 

the  distinction  necessarily  disappears.  The 
•spiritual  to  it  becomes  the  outer  circle  of  the 
natural. 

Now  of  the  great  mass  of  living  organisms, 
of  the  great  mass  of  men,  is  it  not  to  be  affirmed 
that  they  are  out  of  correspondence  with  this 
xmter  circle  ?  Suppose,  to  make  the  final  issue 
more  real,  we  give  this  outermost  circle  of  en- 
vironment a  name.  Suppose  we  call  it  God. 
Suppose  also  we  substitute  a  word  for  "  corre- 
spondence" to  express  more  intimately  the 
personal  relation.  Let  us  call  it  Communion. 
We  can  now  determine  accurately  the  spiritual 
relation  of  different  sections  of  mankind. 
Those  who  are  in  communion  with  God  live, 
those  who  are  not  are  dead. 

The  extent  or  depth  of  this  communion,  the 
'varying  degrees  of  correspondence  in  different 
individuals,  and  the  less  or  more  abundant  life 
*which  these  result  in,  need  not  concern  us  for 
the  present.  The  task  we  have  set  ourselves 
is  to  investigate  the  essential  nature  of  Spir- 
itual Death.  And  we  have  found  it  to  consist 
in  a  want  of  communion  with  God.  The  un- 
-spiritual  man  is  he  who  lives  in  the  circum- 
scribed environment  of  this  present  world. 
41  She  that  liveth  in  pleasure  is  Dead  while  she 
liveth."  "  To  be  carnally  minded  is  Death." 
To  be  carnally  minded,  translated  into  the 
language  of  science,  is  to  be  limited  in  one's 
correspondences  to  the  environment  of  the 
natural  man.  It  is  no  necessary  part  of  the 
conception  that  the  mind  should  be  either  pur- 
posely irreligious,  or  directly  vicious.  The 


DEATH.  165 

mind  of  the  flesh,  4>p6vr/na  nyc  Sa.pK.bs,  by  its  very 
nature,  limited  capacity,  and  time-ward  ten- 
dency, is  e<ivaroc,  Death.  This  earthly  mind 
may  be  of  noble  calibre,  enriched  by  culture,, 
high-toned,  virtuous  and  pure.  But  if  it  know 
not  God  ?  What  though  its  correspondences 
reach  to  the  stars  of  heaven  or  grasp  t'  5 
magnitudes  of  Time  and  Space  ?  The  stars 
of  heaven  are  not  heaven.  Space  is  not  God. 
This  mind,  certainly,  has  life,  life  up  to  its  level. 
There  is  no  trace  ol  Death.  Possibly  too,  it 
carries  its  deprivation  lightly,  and,  up  to  its- 
level,  lives  content.  We  do  not  picture  the 
possessor  of  this  carnal  mind  as  in  any 
sense  a  monster.  We  have  said  he  may  be 
high-toned,  virtuous,  and  pure.  The  plant  is 
not  a  monster  because  it  is  dead  to  the  voice  of 
the  bird  ;  nor  is  he  a  monster  who  is  dead  to 
the  voice  of  God.  The  contention  at  present 
simply  is  that  he  is  Dead. 

We  do  not  need  to  go  to  Revelation  for  the 
proof  of  this.  That  has  been  rendered  un- 
necessary by  the  testimony  of  the  Dead  them- 
selves. Thousands  have  uttered  themselves 
upon  their  relation  to  the  Spiritual  World,  and 
from  their  own  lips  we  have  the  proclamation 
of  their  Death.  The  language  of  theology  in 
describing  the  state  of  the  natural  man  is  often 
regarded  as  severe.  The  Pauline  anthropology 
has  been  challenged  as  an  insult  to  nunan 
nature.  Culture  has  opposed  the  doctrine  that 
"  The  natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things  of 
the  Spirit  of  God,  for  they  are  foolishness  unto 
him  :  neither  can  he  know  them,  because  they 


166  DEATH. 

are  spiritually  discerned."  And  even  some 
modern  theologies  have  refused  to  accept  the 
most  plain  of  the  aphorisms  of  Jesus,  that 
"  Except  a  man  be  born  again  he  cannot  see 
the  Kingdom  of  God."  But  this  stern  doctrine 
of  the  spiritual  deadness  of  humanity  is  no 
mere  dogma  of  a  past  theology.  The  history 
of  thought  during  the  present  century  proves 
that  the  world  has  come  round  spontaneously 
to  the  position  of  the  first.  One  of  the  ablest 
philosophical  schools  of  the  day  erects  a  whole 
antichristian  system  on  this  very  doctrine. 
Seeking  by  means  of  it  to  sap  the  foundation 
of  spiritual  religion,  it  stands  unconsciously  as 
the  most  significant  witness  for  its  truth. 
What  is  the  creed  of  he  Agnostic,  but  the  con- 
fession of  the  spiritual  numbness  of  humanity  ? 
The  negative  doctrine  which  it  reiterates  with 
such  sad  persistency,  what  is  it  but  the  echo 
of  the  oldest  of  scientific  '  and  religious 
truths  ?  And  what  are  all  these  gloomy  and 
rebellious  infidelities,  these  touching,  and  too 
sincere  confessions  of  universal  nescience,  but 
a  protest  against  this  ancient  law  of  Death  ? 
The  Christian  apologist  never  further  misses 
the  mark  than  when  he  refuses  the  testimony 
of  t'  Agnostic  to  himself.  When  the  Agnos- 
tic tell  •  me  he  is  blind  and  deaf,  dumb,  torpid 
and  dead  to  the  spiritual  world,  I  must  believe 
him.  Jesus  tells  me  that.  Paul  tells  me  that. 
Science  tells  me  that.  He  knows  nothing  of 
this  outermost  circle  ;  and  we  are  compelled  to 
trust  his  sincerity  as  readily  when  he  deplores 
it  as  if,  being  a  man  without  an  ear,  he  pro* 


DEATH.  167 

fessed  to  know  nothing  of  a  musical  world  or 
being  without  taste,  of  a  world  of  art.  The 
nescience  of  the  Agnostic  philosophy  is  the 
proof  from  experience  that  to  be  carnally 
minded  is  Death.  Let  the  theological  value  of 
the  concession  be  duly  recognized.  It  brings 
no  solace  to  the  unspiritual  man  to  be  told  he 
is  mistaken.  To  say  he  is  self- deceived  is 
neither  to  compliment  him  nor  Christianity. 
He  builds  in  all  sincerity  who  raises  his  altar 
to  the  Unknown  God.  He  does  not  know  God. 
With  all  his  marvellous  and  complex  correspon- 
dences, he  is  still  one  correspondence  short. 

It  is  a  point  worthy  of  special  note  that  the 
proclamation  of  this  truth  has  always  come 
from  science  rather  than  from  religion.  Its 
general  acceptance  by  thinkers  is  based  upon 
the  universal  failure  of  a  universal  experiment. 
The  statement,  therefore,  that  the  natural  man 
discerneth  not  the  things  of  the  spirit,  is  never 
to  be  charged  against  the  intolerance  of  theo- 
logy. There  is  no  point  at  which  theology  has 
been  more  modest  than  here.  It  has  left  the 
preaching  of  a  great  fundamental  truth  almost 
entirely  to  philosophy  and  science.  And  so 
very  moderate  has  been  its  tone,  so  slight  has 
been  the  emphasis  placed  upon  the  paralysis  of 
the  natural  with  regard  to  the  spiritual,  that  it 
may  seem  to  some  to  have  been  intolerantly 
tolerant.  No  harm  certainly  could  come  now, 
no  offence  could  be  given  to  science,  if  religion 
asserted  more  clearly  its  right  to  the  spiritual 
world.  Science  has  paved  the  way  for  the 
reception  of  one  of  the  most  revolutionary 


168  DEATH. 

doctrines  of  Christianity ;  and  if  Christianity 
refuses  to  take  advantage  of  the  opening  it 
will  manifest  a  culpable  want  of  confidence  in 
itself.  There  never  was  a  tune  when  its  funda- 
mental doctrines  could  more  boldly  be  pro- 
claimed, or  when  they  could  better  secure  the 
respect  and  arrest  the  interest  of  Science. 

To  all  this,  and  apparently  with  force,  it 
may,  however,  be  objected  that  to  every  man 
who  truly  studies  Nature  there  is  a  God. 
Call  him  by  whatever  name — a  Creator,  a 
Supreme  Being,  a  Great  First  Cause,  a  Power 
that  makes  for  Righteousness — Science  has  a 
God ;  and  he  who  believes  in  this,  in  spite  of 
^11  protest,  possesses  a  theology.  "  If  we  will 
look  at  things,  and  not  merely  at  words,  we 
shall  soon  see  that  the  scientific  man  has  a  the- 
ology and  a  God,  a  most  impressive  theology,  a 
most  awful  and  glorious  God.  I  say  that  man 
believes  in  a  God,  who  feels  himself  in  the 
presence  of  a  Power  which  is  not  himself,  and 
is  immeasurably  above  himself,  a  Power  in  the 
oontemplation  of  which  he  is  absorbed,  in  the 
knowledge  of  which  he  finds  safety  and  happi- 
ness. And  such  now  is  Nature  to  the  scien- 
tific man."  l  Such  now,  we  humbly  submit,  is 
Nature  to  very  few.  Their  own  confession  is 
against  it.  That  they  are  "  absorbed  "  in  the 
contemplation  we  can  well  believe.  That  they 
might  "  find  safety  and  happiness "  in  the 
knowledge  of  Him  is  also  possible — if  they  had 
it.  But  this  is  just  what  they  tell  us  they 

1  "Natural  Religion,"  p.  19. 


DEATH.  169 

have  not.  What  they  deny  is  not  a  God.  It 
is  the  correspondence.  The  very  confession  of 
the  Unknowable  is  itself  the  dull  recognition 
of  an  Environment  beyond  themselves,  and  for 
which  they  feel  they  lack  the  correspondence. 
It  is  this  want  that  makes  their  God  the  Un- 
known God.  And  it  is  this  that  makes  them 
dead. 

We  have  not  said,  or  implied,  that  there  is 
not  a  God  of  Nature.  We  have  not  affirmed 
that  there  is  no  Natural  Religion.  We  are 
assured  there  is.  We  are  even  assured  that 
without  a  Religion  of  Nature,  Religion  is  only 
half  complete ;  that  without  a  God  of  Nature, 
the  God  of  Revelation  is  only  half  intelligible 
and  only  partially  known.  God  is  not  confined 
to  the  outermost  circle  of  environment,  He  lives 
And  moves  and  has  his  being  in  the  whole. 
Those  who  only  seek  Him  in  the  further  zone 
can  only  find  a  part.  The  Christian  who  knows 
not  God  in  Nature,  who  does  not,  that  is  to 
say,  correspond  with  the  whole  environment, 
most  certainly  is  partially  dead.  The  author 
of  "  Ecce  Homo  "  may  be  partially  right  when 
he  says  :  "  I  think  a  bystander  would  say  that 
though  Christianity  had  in  it  something  far 
higher  and  deeper  and  more  ennobling,  yet  the 
average  scientific  man  worships  just  at  present 
a  more  awful,  and,  as  it  were,  a  greater  Deity 
than  the  average  Christian.  In  so  many 
•Christians  the  idea  of  God  has  been  degraded 
by  childish  and  little-minded  teaching ;  the 
Eternal  and  the  Infinite  and  the  All-embracing 
has  been  represented  as  the  head  of  the  cleri- 


170.  DEATH. 

cal  interest,  as  a  sort  of  clergyman,  as  a  sort 
of  schoolmaster,  as  a  sort  of  philanthropist. 
But  the  scientific  man  knows  Him  to  be 
eternal ;  in  astronomy,  in  geology,  he  becomes 
familiar  with  the  countless  millenniums  of  His 
lifetime.  The  scientific  man  strains  his  mind 
actually  to  realize  God's  infinity.  As  far  off 
as  the  fixed  stars  he  traces  Him,  'distance 
inexpressible  by  numbers  that  have  name.' 
Meanwhile,  to  the  theologian,  infinity  and 
eternity  are  very  much  of  empty  words  when 
applied  to  the  Object  of  his  worship.  He  does 
not  realize  them  in  actual  facts  and  definite 
computations." l  Let  us  accept  this  rebuke. 
The  principle  that  want  of  correspondence  is 
Death  applies  all  round.  He  who  knows  not 
God  in  Nature  only  partially  lives.  The  con- 
verse of  this,  however,  is  not  true ;  arid  that  is 
the  point  we  are  insisting  on.  He  who  knows 
God  only  in  Nature  lives  not.  There  is  no 
"  correspondence  "  with  an  Unknown  God,  no 
"continuous  adjustment"  to  a  fixed  First 
Cause.  There  is  no  "  assimilation  "  of  Natural 
Law ;  no  growth  in  the  Image  of  "  the  All-em- 
bracing." To  correspond  with  the  God  of 
Science  assuredly  is  not  to  live.  "  This  is  Life 
Eternal,  to  know  Thee,  the  true  God,  and  Jesus 
Christ  Whom  Thou  hast  sent." 

From  the  service  we  have  tried  to  make 
natural  science  render  to  our  religion,  we 
might  be  expected  possibly  to  take  up  the 
position  that  the  absolute  contribution  of 

1  "Natural  Keligion,"  p.  20. 


DEATH.  171 

Science  to  Revelation  was  very  great.  On  the 
contrary,  it  is  very  small.  The  absolute  con- 
tribution, that  is,  is  very  small.  The  contri- 
bution on  the  whole  is  immense,  vaster  than 
we  have  yet  any  idea  of.  But  without  the  aid 
of  the  higher  Revelation  this  many-toned  and 
far-reaching  voice  had  been  forever  dumb. 
The  light  of  Nature,  say  the  most  for  it,  is  dim 
— how  dim  we  ourselves,  with  the  glare  of 
other  Light  upon  the  modern  world,  can  only 
realize  when  we  seek  among  the  pagan  records 
of  the  past  for  the  gropings  after  truth  of 
those  whose  only  light  was  this.  Powerfully 
significant  and  touching  as  these  efforts  were 
in  their  success,  they  are  far  more  significant 
and  touching  in  their  failure.  For  they  did 
fail.  It  requires  no  philosophy  now  to  speculate 
on  the  adequacy  or  inadequacy  of  the  Religion 
of  Nature.  For  us  who  could  never  weigh  it 
rightly  in  the  scales  of  Truth  it  has  been  tried 
in  the  balance  of  experience  and  found  want- 
ing. Theism  is  the  easiest  of  all  religions  to 
get,  but  the  most  difficult  to  keep.  Individuals 
have  kept  it,  but  nations  never.  Socrates  and 
Aristotle,  Cicero  and  Epictetus  had  a  theistic 
religion;  Greece  and  Rome  had  none.  And 
even  after  getting  what  seems  like  a  firm  place 
in  the  minds  of  men,  its  unstable  equilibrium 
sooner  or  later  betrays  itself.  On  the  one 
hand  theism  has  always  fallen  into  the  wildest 
polytheism,  or  on  the  other  into  the  blankest 
atheism.  "  It  is  an  indubitable  historical  fact 
that,  outside  of  the  sphere  of  special  revela- 
tion, man  has  never  obtained  such  a  knowl- 


172  DEATH. 

edge  of  God  as  a  responsible  and  religious 
being  plainly  requires.  The  wisdom  of  the  hea- 
then world,  at  its  very  best,  was  utterly  inade- 
quate to  the  accomplishment  of  such  a  task  as- 
creating  a  due  abhorrence  of  sin,  controlling  the 
passions,  purif  y  ing  the  heart  and  ennobling  the 
conduct."  l 

What  is  the  inference?  That  this  poor 
rushlight  by  itself  was  never  meant  to  lend 
the  ray  by  which  man  should  read  the  riddle 
of  the  universe.  The  mystery  is  too  impene- 
trable and  remote  for  its  uncertain  flicker  to 
more  than  make  the  darkness  deeper.  What 
indeed  if  this  were  not  a  light  at  all,  but  only 
part  of  a  light — the  carbon  point,  the  fragment 
of  calcium,  the  reflector  in  the  great  Lantern 
which  contains  the  Light  of  the  World  ? 

This  is  one  inference.  But  the  most  impor- 
tant is  that  the  absence  of  the  true  Light 
means  moral  Death.  The  darkness  of  the 
natural  world  to  the  intellect  is  not  all. 
What  history  testifies  to  is,  first  the  partial, 
and  then  the  total  eclipse  of  virtue  that  always 
follows  the  abandonment  of  belief  in  a  per- 
sonal God.  It  is  not,  as  has  been  pointed  out 
a  hundred  times,  that  morality  in  the  abstract 
disappears,  but  the  motive  and  sanction  are 
gone.  There  is  nothing  to  raise  it  from  the 
dead.  Man's  attitude  to  it  is  left  to  himself. 
Grant  that  morals  have  their  own  base  in  hu- 
man life ;  grant  that  Nature  has  a  Religion 
whose  creed  is  Science ;  there  is  yet  nothing 

»  Prof.  Flint,  "Theism,"  p.  305. 


DEATH.  173 

mpart  from  God  to  save  the  world  from  moral 
Death.  Morality  has  the  power  to  dictate  but 
none  to  move.  Nature  directs  but  cannot  con- 
trol. As  was  wisely  expressed  in  one  of  many 
pregnant  utterances  during  a  recent  Sympo- 
sium, "  Though  the  decay  of  religion  may 
leave  the  institutes  of  morality  intact,  it  drains 
off  their  inward  power.  The  devout  faith  of 
men  expresses  and  measures  the  intensity  of 
their  moral  nature,  and  it  cannot  be  lost  with- 
out a  remission  of  enthusiasm,  and  under  this 
low  pressure,  the  successful  re-entrance  of 
importunate  desires  and  clamorous  passions 
which  have  been  driven  back.  To  believe  in 
an  ever-living  and  perfect  Mind,  supreme  over 
the  universe,  is  to  invest  moral  distinctions 
with  immensity  and  eternity,  and  lift  them 
from  the  provincial  stage  of  human  society  to 
the  imperishable  theatre  of  all  being.  When 
planted  thus  in  the  very  substance  of  things, 
they  justify  and  support  the  ideal  estimates 
of  the  conscience;  they  deepen  every  guilty 
shame ;  they  guarantee  every  righteous  hope ; 
and  they  help  the  will  with  a  Divine  casting- 
Arote  in  every  balance  of  temptation."  1  That 
morality  has  a  basis  in  human  society,  that 
Nature  has  a  Religion,  surely  makes  the  Death 
of  the  soul  when  left  to  itself  all  the  more  ap- 
palling. It  means  that,  between  them,  Nature 
and  morality  provide  all  for  virtue — except 
the  Life  to  live  it. 

1  Martineau.  Vide  the  whole  Symposium  on  "  The 
Influences  upon  Morality  of  a  Decline  in  Religious  Be- 
lief."— Nineteenth  Century,  vol.  i.  pp.  331,  531. 


174  DEATH. 

It  is  at  this  point  accordingly  that  our  sub- 
ject  comes  into  intimate  contact  with  Religion. 
The  proposition  that  "  to  be  carnally  minded 
is  Death"  even  the  moralist  will  assent  to. 
But  when  it  is  further  announced  that  "  the 
carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God"  we  find 
ourselves  in  a  different  region.  And  when  we 
find  it  also  stated  that  "  the  wages  of  sin  is 
Death,"  we  are  in  the  heart  of  the  profoundest 
questions  of  theology.  What  before  was 
merely  "enmity  against  society"  becomes 
"enmity  against  God;"  and  what  was  "vice" 
is  "  sin."  The  conception  of  a  God  gives  an 
altogether  new  color  to  worldliness  and  vice. 
Worldliness  it  changes  into  heathenism,  vice 
into  blasphemy.  The  carnal  mind,  the  mind 
which  is  turned  away  from  God,  which  will 
not  correspond  with  God — this  is  not  moral 
only  but  spiritual  Death.  And  Sin,  that  which 
separates  from  God,  which  disobeys  God, 
which  can  not  in  that  state  correspond  with 
God — this  is  hell. 

To  the  estrangement  of  the  soul  from  God 
the  best  of  theology  traces  the  ultimate  cause 
of  sin.  Sin  is  simply  apostasy  from  God,  un- 
belief in  God.  "  Sin  is  manifest  in  its  true 
character  when  the  demand  of  holiness  in  the 
conscience,  presenting  itself  to  the  man  as  one 
of  loving  submission  to  God,  is  put  from  him 
with  aversion.  Here  sin  appears  as  it  really  is, 
a  turning  away  from  God ;  and  while  the  man's 
guilt  is  enhanced,  there  ensues  a  benumbing  of 
the  heart  resulting  from  the  crushing  of  those 
higher  impulses.  This  is  what  is  meant  by  the 


UEATJI.  175 

reprobate  state  of  those  who  reject  Christ  and 
will  not  believe  the  Gospel,  so  often  spoken  of 
in  the  New  Testament ;  this  unbelief  is  just 
the  closing  of  the  heart  against  the  highest 
love."  1  The  other  view  of  sin,  probably  the 
more  popular  at  present,  that  sin  consists  in 
selfishness,  is  merely  this  from  another  aspect. 
Obviously  if  the  mind  turns  away  from  one 
part  of  the  environment  it  will  only  do  so  under 
some  temptation  to  correspond  with  another. 
This  temptation,  at  bottom,  can  only  come  from 
one  source — the  love  of  self.  The  irreligious 
man's  correspondences  are  concentrated  upon 
himself.  He  worships  himself.  Self-gratifi- 
cation rather  than  self-denial ;  independence 
rather  than  submission — these  are  the  rules  of 
life.  And  this  is  at  once  the  poorest  and  the 
commonest  form  of  idolatry. 

But  whichever  of  these  views  of  sin  we 
emphasize  we  find  both  equally  connected  with 
Death.  If  sin  is  estrangement  from  God,  this 
very  estrangement  is  Death.  It  is  a  want  of 
correspondence.  If  sin  is  selfishness,  it  is  con- 
ducted at  the  expense  of  life.  Its  wages  are 
Death — "  he  that  loveth  his  life,"  said  Christ, 
"shall  lose  it." 

Yet  the  paralysis  of  the  moral  nature  apart 
from  God  does  not  only  depend  for  its  evidence 
upon  theology  or  even  upon  history.  From 
the  analogies  of  Nature  one  would  expect  this 
result  as  a  necessary  consequence.  The  de- 
velopment of  any  organism  in  any  direction  is 

1Miiller;  "Christian  Doctrine  of  Sin,"  2d  Kd.  vol.  L 
p.  131, 


176  DEATH, 

dependent  on  its  environment.  A  living  cell 
cut  off  from  air  will  die.  A  seed-germ 
apart  from  moisture  and  an  appropriate  tem- 
perature will  make  the  ground  its  grave  for 
centuries.  Human  nature,  likewise,  is  subject 
to  similar  conditions.  It  can  only  develop  in 
presence  of  its  environment.  No  matter  what 
its  possibilities  may  be,  no  matter  what  seeds 
of  thought  or  virtue,  what  germs  of  genius  or 
of  art,  lie  latent  in  its  breast,  until  the  appro- 
priate environment  presents  itself  the  corre- 
spondence is  denied,  the  development  discour- 
raged,  the  most  splendid  possibilities  of  life 
remain  unrealized,  and  thought  and  virtue,, 
genius  and  art,  are  dead.  The  true  environ- 
ment of  the  moral  life  is  God.  Here  conscience 
wakes.  Here  kindles  love.  Duty  here  be- 
comes heroic;  and  that  righteousness  begins 
to  live  which  alone  is  to  live  forever.  But  if 
this  Atmosphere  is  not,  the  dwarfed  soul  must 
perish  for  mere  want  of  its  native  air.  And 
its  Death  is  a  strictly  natural  Death.  It  is  not 
an  exceptional  judgment  upon  Atheism.  la 
the  same  circumstances,  in  the  same  averted 
relation  to  their  environment,  the  poet,  the 
musician,  the  artist,  would  alike  perish  to  po- 
etry, to  music,  and  to  art.  Every  environment 
is  a  cause.  Its  effect  upon  me  is  exactly  pro- 
portionate to  my  correspondence  with  it.  If  I 
correspond  with  part  of  it,  part  of  myself  is 
influenced.  If  I  correspond  with  more,  more* 
of  myself  is  influenced ;  if  with  all,  all  is  in- 
fluenced.  If  I  correspond  with  the  world,  I  be- 
come worldly ;  if  with  God,  I  become  Divine, 


DEATH.  17? 

As  without  correspondence  of  the  scientific  man 
with  the  natural  environment  there  could  be 
no  Science  and  no  action  founded  on  the  knowl- 
edge of  Nature,  so  without  communion  with  the 
spiritual  Environment  there  can  be  no  Religion. 
To  refuse  to  cultivate  the  religious  relation  is 
to  deny  to  the  soul  its  highest  right — the  right 
to  a  further  evolution.1 

We  have  already  admitted  that  he  who  knows 
not  God  may  not  be  a  monster ;  we  cannot  say 
he  will  not  be  a  dwarf.  This  precisely,  and  on 
perfectly  natural  principles,  is  what  he  must 
be.  You  can  dwarf  a  soul  just  as  you  can  dwarf 
a  plant,  by  depriving  it  of  a  full  environment. 
Such  a  soul  for  a  time  may  have  "  a  name  to 
live."  Its  character  may  betray  no  sign  of 
atrophy.  But  its  very  virtue  somehow  has 
the  pallor  of  a  flower  that  is  grown  in  dark- 
ness, or  as  the  herb  which  has  never  seen  the 
sun,  no  fragrance  breathes  from  its  spirit.  To 

1  It  would  not  be  difficult  to  show,  were  this  the  im- 
mediate subject,  that  it  is  not  only  a  right  but  a  duty  to 
exercise  the  spiritual  faculties,  a  duty  demanded  not 
by  religion  merely,  but  by  science.  Upon  biological 
principles  man  owes  his  full  development  to  himself, 
to  nature,  and  to  his  fellow-men.  Thus  Mr.  Herbert 
Spencer  affirms,  "  The  performance  of  every  function  is, 
in  a  sense,  a  moral  obligation.  It  is  usually  thought 
that  morality  requires  us  only  to  restrain  such  vital  ac- 
tivities as,  in  our  present  state,  are  often  pushed  to 
excess,  or  such  as  conflict  with  average  welfare,  special 
or  general ;  but  it  also  requires  us  to  carry  on  these  vital 
activities  up  to  their  normal  limits.  All  the  animal 
functions,  in  common  with  all  the  higher  functions,  have, 
as  thus  understood,  their  imperativeness." — "  The  Data 
of  Ethics,"  2d  Ed.  p.  76. 
12 


178  DEATH. 

morality,  possibly,  this  organism  offers  the 
example  of  an  irreproachable  life ;  but  to  sci- 
ence it  is  an  instance  of  arrested  development ; 
and  to  religion  it  presents  the  spectacle  of  a 
corpse — a  living  Death.  With  Ruskin,  "  I  do 
do  not  wonder  at  what  men  suffer,  but  I  wonder 
often  at  what  they  lose." 


MORTIFICATION; 


"If,  by  tying  its  main  artery,  we  stop  most  of  the 
blood  going  to  a  limb,  then,  for  as  long  as  the  limb 
performs  its  function,  those  parts  which  are  called 
into  play  must  be  wasted  faster  than  they  are  re- 
paired :  whence  eventual  disablement.  The  relation 
between  due  receipt  of  nutritive  matters  through  its 
arteries,  and  due  discharge  of  its  duties  by  the  limb, 
is  a  part  of  the  physical  order.  If  instead  of  cutting 
off  the  supply  to  a  particular  limb,  we  bleed  the  patient 
largely,  so  drafting  away  the  materials  needed  for 
repairing  not  one  limb  but  all  limbs,  and  not  limbs 
only  but  viscera,  there  results  both  a  muscular  debility 
and  an  enfeeblement  of  the  vital  functions.  Here, 
again,  cause  and  effect  are  necessarily  related.  .  .  . 
Pass  now  to  those  actions  more  commonly  thought  of 
as  the  occasions  for  rules  of  conduct." 

HERBERT  SPENCIK. 


MORTIFICATION. 

"Mortify  therefore  your  members  which  are  upon 
earth."—  Paul. 
"  O  Star-eyed  Science  !  hast  thou  wandered  there 

To  waft  us  home  the  message  of  despair  ?  " — Campbell. 

THE  definition  of  Death  which  science  has 
given  us  is  this :  A  falling  out  of  correspondence 
icith  environment.  When,  for  example,  a  man 
loses  the  sight  of  his  eyes,  his  correspondence 
with  the  environing  world  is  curtailed.  His 
life  is  limited  in  an  important  direction ;  he  is 
less  living  than  he  was  before.  If,  in  addition, 
he  lose  the  senses  of  touch  and  hearing,  his 
correspondences  are  still  further  limited ;  he  is 
therefore  still  further  dead.  And  when  all 
possible  correspondences  have  ceased,  when 
the  nerves  decline  to  respond  to  any  stimulus, 
when  the  lungs  close  their  gates  against  the 
air,  when  the  heart  refuses  to  correspond  with 
the  blood  by  so  much  as  another  beat,  the  in- 
sensate corpse  is  wholly  and  forever  dead. 
The  soul,  in  like  manner,  which  has  no  corre- 
spondence with  the  spiritual  environment  is 
spiritually  dead.  It  may  be  that  it  never 
possessed  the  spiritual  eye  or  the  spiritual  ear, 
or  a  heart  which  throbbed  in  response  to  the 
love  of  God.  If  so,  having  never  lived,  it  can- 


182  MORTIFICATION: 

not  be  said  to  have  died.  But  not  to  have 
these  correspondences  is  to  be  in  the  state  of 
Death.  To  the  spiritual  world,  to  the  Divine 
Environment,  it  is  dead — as  a  stone  which  has 
never  lived  is  dead  to  the  environment  of  the 
organic  world. 

Having  already  abundantly  illustrated  this 
use  of  the  symbol  Death,  we  may  proceed  to 
deal  with  another  class  of  expressions  where 
the  same  term  is  employed  in  an  exactly 
opposite  connection.  It  is  a  proof  of  the  radical 
nature  of  religion  that  a  word  so  extreme 
should  have  to  be  used  again  and  again  in 
Christian  teaching,  to  define  in  different  direc- 
tions the  true  s;  iritual  relations  of  mankind. 
Hitherto  we  have  concerned  ourselves  with  the 
condition  of  the  natural  man  with  regard  to 
the  spiritual  wo:  Id.  We  have  now  to  speak  jf 
ihe  relations  of  the  spiritual  man  with  regard 
to  the  natural  world.  Carrying  with  us  the 
same  essential  princ  pie — want  of  correspond- 
ence— underlying  the  meaning  of  Death,  we 
shall  find  that  th^  relation  of  the  spiritual  man 
to  the  natura  wo  Id,  or  at  least  to  part  of  it, 
is  to  be  that  of  Dea  h. 

When  the  natura]  man  becomes  the  spiritual 
man,  the  great  change  is  described  by  Christ 
as  a  passing  from  Death  unto  Life.  Before 
the  transition  occurred,  the  practical  difficulty 
was  this,  how  to  get  into  correspondence  with 
the  new  Environment  ?  But  no  sooner  is  this 
correspondence  established  than  the  problem 
is  reversed.  The  question  now  is,  how  to  get 
out  of  correspondence  with  the  old  environ- 


MORTIFICATION.  183 

ment  ?  The  moment  the  new  life  is  begun  there 
comes  a  genuine  anxiety  to  break  with  the  old. 
For  the  former  environment  has  now  become 
embarrassing.  It  refuses  its  dismissal  from 
consciousness.  It  competes  doggedly  with  the 
new  Environment  for  a  share  of  the  corre- 
spondences. And  in  a  hundred  ways  the  former 
traditions,  the  memories  and  passions  of  the 
past,  the  fixed  associations  and  habits  of  the 
earlier  life,  now  complicate  the  new  relation. 
The  complex  and  bewildered  soul,  in  fact,  finds 
itself  in  correspondence  with  two  environments, 
each  with  urgent  but  yet  incompatible  claims. 
It  is  a  dual  soul  living  in  a  double  world,  a  world 
whose  inhabitants  are  deadly  enemies,  and  en- 
gaged in  perpetual  civil-war. 

The  position  of  things  is  perplexing.  It  is 
clear  that  no  man  can  attempt  to  live  both 
lives.  To  walk  both  in  the  flesh  and  in  the 
spirit  is  morally  impossible.  "No  man,"  as 
Christ  so  often  emphasized,  "  can  serve  two 
masters."  And  yet,  as  matter  of  fact,  here  is 
the  new-born  being  in  communication  with 
both  environments?  With  sin  and  purity, 
light  and  darkness,  time  and  Eternity,  God 
and  Devil,  the  confused  and  undecided  soul  is 
now  in  correspondence.  What  is  to  be  done 
in  such  an  emergency?  How  can  the  New 
Life  deliver  itself  from  the  still-persistent  past  ? 

A  ready  solution  of  the  difficulty  would  be 
to  die.  Were  one  to  die  organically,  to  die  and 
"  go  to  heaven,''  all  correspondence  with  the 
lower  environment  would  be  arrested  at  a 
stroke.  For  Physical  Death  of  course  simply 


184  MORTIFICATION. 

means  the  final  stoppage  of  all  natural  corre- 
spondences with  this  sinful  world.  But  this 
alternative,  fortunately  or  unfortunately,  is 
not  open.  The  detention  here  of  body  and 
spirit  for  a  gr~en  period  is  determined  for  us, 
and  w  are  morally  bound  to  accept  the 
situation.  We  must  look  then  for  a  further 
alternative. 

Actual  Death  being  denied  us,  we  must  ask 
ou  selves  if  here  is  nothing  else  resembling 
it — no  artificial  relation,  no  imitation  or  sem- 
blance of  Death  which  would  serve  our  purpose. 
If  we  cannot  yet  die  absolutely,  surely  the 
next  best  thing  will  be  to  find  a  temporary 
substitute.  If  we  cannot  die  altogether,  in 
short,  the  most  we  can  do  is  to  die  as  much  as 
we  can.  And  we  now  know  this  is  open  to  us, 
and  how.  To  die  to  any  environment  is  to 
withdraw  correspondence  with  it,  to  cut  our- 
selves off,  so  far  as  possible,  from  all  com- 
munication with  it.  So  that  the  solution  of 
the  probl  m  will  simply  be  this,  for  the  spirit- 
ual life  to  reverse  continuously  the  processes 
of  the  natural  life.  The  spiritual  man  having 
passed  from  Death  unto  Life,  the  natural  man 
must  next  proceed  to  pass  from  Life  unto 
Death.  Having  opened  the  new  set  of  corre- 
spondences, he  must  deliberately  close  up  the 
old.  Regeneration  in  short  must  be  accom- 
panied by  Degeneration. 

Now  it  is  no  surprise  to  find  that  this  is 
the  process  everywhere  described  and  recom- 
mended by  the  founders  of  the  Christian  sys- 
tem. Their  proposal  to  the  natural  man,  or 


MORTIFICATION.  185 

rather  to  the  natural  part  of  the  spiritual  man, 
with  regard  to  a  whole  series  of  inimical  rela- 
tions, is  precisely  this.  If  he  cannot  really 
die,  he  must  make  an  adequate  approach  to  it 
by  "  reckoning  himself  dead."  Seeing  that, 
until  the  cycle  of  his  organic  life  is  complete 
he  cannot  die  physically,  he  must  meantime 
die  morally,  reckoning  himself  morally  dead 
to  that  environment  which,  by  competing  for 
his  correspondences,  has  now  become  an  ob- 
stacle to  his  spiritual  life. 

The  variety  of  ways  in  which  the  New  Tes- 
tament writers  insist  upon  this  somewhat  ex- 
traordinary method  is  sufficiently  remarkable. 
And  although  the  idea  involved  is  essentially 
the  same  throughout,  it  will  clearly  illustrate 
the  nature  of  the  act  if  we  examine  separately 
three  different  modes  of  expression  employed 
in  the  later  Scriptures  in  this  connection.  The 
methods  by  which  the  spiritual  man  is  to  with- 
draw himself  from  the  old  environment — or 
from  that  part  of  it  which  will  directly  hinder 
the  spiritual  life — are  three  in  number  : 

First,  Suicide. 
Second,  Mortification. 
Third,  Limitation. 

It  will  be  found  In  practice  that  these  dif- 
ferent methods  are  adapted,  respectively,  to 
meet  three  different  forms  of  temptation ;  so 
that  we  possess  a  sufficient  warrant  for  giving 
a  brief  separate  treatment  to  each. 

First,  Suicide.     Stated  in  undisguised  phra* 


186  MORTIFICATION. 

geology,  the  advice  of  Paul  to  the  Christian, 
with  regard  to  a  part  of  his  nature,  is  to  com- 
mit suicide.  If  the  Christian  is  to  "  live  unto 
God,"  he  must  "  die  unto  sin."  If  he  does  not 
kill  sin,  sin  will  inevitably  kill  him.  Recog- 
nising this,  he  must  set  himself  to  reduce  the 
number  of  his  correspondences — retaining  and 
developing  those  which  lead  to  a  fuller  life, 
unconditionally  withdrawing  those  which  in 
any  way  tend  in  an  opposite  direction.  This 
stoppage  of  correspondences  is  a  voluntary  act, 
a  crucifixion  of  the  flesh,  a  suicide. 

Now  the  least  experience  of  life  will  make 
it  evident  that  a  large  class  of  sins  can  only 
be  met,  as  it  were,  by  Suicide.  The  peculiar 
feature  of  Death  by  Suicide  is  that  it  is  not 
only  self-inflicted  but  sudden.  And  there  are 
many  sins  which  must  either  be  dealt  with 
suddenly  or  not  at  all.  Under  this  category, 
for  instance,  are  to  be  included  generally  all 
sins  of  the  appetites  and  passions.  Other  sins, 
from  their  peculiar  nature,  can  only  be  treated 
by  methods  less  abrupt,  but  the  sudden  opera- 
tion of  the  knife  is  the  only  successful  means 
of  dealing  with  fleshly  sins.  For  example,  the 
correspondence  of  the  drunkard  with  his  wine 
is  a  thing  which  can  be  broken  off  by  degrees 
only  in  the  rarest  cases.  To  attempt  it  grad- 
ually may  in  an  isolated  case  succeed,  but  even 
then  the  slightly  prolonged  gratification  is  no 
compensation  for  the  slow  torture  of  a  grad- 
ually diminishing  indulgence.  "If  thine  ap- 
petite offend  thee  cut  it  off,"  may  seem  at  first 
but  a  harsh  remedy;  but  when  we  contem- 


MORTIFICATION.  187 

plate  on  the  one  hand  the  lingering  pain  of  the 
gradual  process,  on  the  other  its  constant  peril, 
we  are  compelled  to  admit  that  the  principle 
is  as  kind  as  it  is  wise.  The  expression  "  total 
abstinence,"  in  such  a  case  is  a  strictly  bio- 
logical formula.  It  implies  the  sudden  de- 
struction of  a  definite  portion  of  environment 
by  the  total  withdrawal  of  all  the  connecting 
links.  Obviously  of  course  total  abstinence 
ought  thus  to  be  allowed  a  much  wider  ap- 
plication than  to  cases  of  "  intemperance."  It 
is  the  only  decisive  method  of  dealing  with  any 
ein  of  the  flesh.  The  very  nature  of  the  rela- 
tions makes  it  absolutely  imperative  that 
every  victim  of  unlawful  appetite,  in  whatever 
direction,  shall  totally  abstain.  Hence  Christ's 
apparently  extreme  and  peremptory  language 
defines  the  only  possible,  as  well  as  the  only 
charitable*  expedient :  "  If  thy  right  eye  offend 
thee,  pluck  it  out,  and  cast  it  from  thee.  And 
if  thy  right  hand  offend  thee,  cut  it  off,  and 
cast  it  from  thee." 

The  humanity  of  what  is  called  "sudden 
conversion"  has  never  been  insisted  on  as  it 
deserves.  In  discussing  "  Biogenesis,"  l  it  has 
been  already  pointed  out  that  while  growth  is 
a  slow  and  gradual  process,  the  change  from 
Death  to  Life  alike  in  the  natural  and  spiritual 
spheres  is  the  work  of  a  moment.  Whatever 
the  conscious  hour  of  the  second  birth  may  be 
— in  the  case  of  an  adult  it  is  probably  defined 
by  the  first  real  victory  over  sin — it  is  certain 

•Page  93. 


188  MORTIFICATION. 

that  on  biological  principles  the  real  turning-- 
point is  literally  a  moment.  But  on  moral 
and  humane  grounds  this  misunderstood,  per- 
verted, and  therefore  despised  doctrine  is 
equally  capable  of  defence.  Were  any  re- 
former, with  an  adequate  knowledge  of  human 
life,  to  sit  down  and  plan  a  scheme  for  the 
salvation  of  sinful  men,  he  woul  d  probably 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  best  way  after 
all,  perhaps  indeed  the  only  way,  to  turn  a 
sinner  from  the  errors  of  his  ways  would  be 
to  do  it  suddenly. 

Suppose  a  drunkard  were  advised  to  take 
off  one  portion  from  his  usual  allowance  the 
first  week,  another  the  second,  and  so  on !  Or 
suppose  at  first  he  only  allowed  himself  to  be- 
come intoxicated  in  the  evenings,  then  every 
second  evening,  then  only  on  Saturday  nights, 
and  finally  only  every  Christmas?  How 
would  a  thief  be  reformed  if  he  slowly  reduced 
the  number  of  his  burglaries,  or  a  wife-beater 
by  gradually  diminishing  the  number  of  his 
blows?  The  argument  ends  with  an  ad  ab- 
surdum.  " Let  him  that  stole  steal  no  more" 
is  the  only  feasible,  the  only  moral,  and  the 
only  humane  way.  This  may  not  apply  to 
every  case,  but  when  any  part  of  man's  sinful 
life  can  be  dealt  with  by  immediate  Suicide, 
to  make  him  reach  the  end,  even  were  it  pos- 
sible, by  a  lingering  death,  would  be  a 
monstrous  cruelty.  And  yet  it  is  this  very 
thing  in  "sudden  conversion,"  that  men  ob- 
ject to — the  sudden  change,  the  decisive  stand, 
the  uncompromising  rupture  with  the  past,  the 


MORTIFICATION.  189 

precipitate  flight  from  sin  as  of  one  escaping 
for  his  life.  Men  surely  forget  that  this  is  an 
escaping  for  one's  life.  Let  the  poor  prisoner 
run — madly  and  blindly  if  he  likes,  for  the 
terror  of  Death  is  upon  him.  God  knows, 
when  the  pause  comes,  how  the  chains  will 
gall  him  still. 

It  is  a  peculiarity  of  the  sinful  state,  that 
as  a  general  rule  men  are  linked  to  evil  mainly 
by  a  single  correspondence.  Few  men  break 
the  whole  law.  Our  natures,  fortunately,  are 
not  large  enough  to  make  us  guilty  of  all,  and 
the  restraints  of  circumstances  are  usually 
such  as  to  leave  a  loophole  in  the  life  of  each 
individual  for  only  a  single  habitual  sin.  But 
it  is  very  easy  to  see  how  this  reduction  of  our 
intercourse  with  evil  to  a  single  correspond- 
ence blinds  us  to  our  true  position.  Our  cor- 
respondences, as  a  whole,  are  not  with  evil, 
and  in  our  calculations  as  to  our  spiritual  con- 
dition we  emphasize  the  many  negatives  rather 
than  the  single  positive.  One  little  weakness, 
we  are  apt  to  fancy,  all  men  must  be  allowed, 
And  we  even  claim  a  certain  indulgence  for 
that  apparent  necessity  of  nature  which  we 
call  our  besetting  sin.  Yet  to  break  with  the 
lower  environment  at  all,  to  many,  is  to  break 
at  this  single  point.  It  is  the  only  important 
point  at  which  they  touch  it,  circumstances  or 
natural  disposition  making  habitual  contact  at 
other  places  impossible.  The  sinful  environ- 
ment, in  short,  to  them  means  a  small  but 
well-defined  area.  Now  if  contact  at  this 
point  be  not  broken  off,  they  are  virtually 


1 90  M  OR  TIF1 CA  TION. 

in  contact  still  with  the  whole  environment. 
There  may  be  only  one  avenue  between  the  new 
life  and  the  old,  it  may  be  but  a  small  and  sub- 
terranean passage,  but  this  is  sufficient  to  keep 
the  old  life  in.  So  long  as  that  remains  the 
Tictim  is  not  "  dead  unto  sin,"  and  therefore 
he  cannot  "  live  unto  God."  Hence  the  rea- 
sonableness of  the  words,  "Whosoever  shall 
keep  the  whole  law,  and  yet  offend  at  one 
point,  he  is  guilty  of  all."  In  the  natural 
world  it  only  requires  a  single  vital  correspond- 
ence of  the  body  to  be  out  of  order  to  ensure 
Death.  It  is  not  necessary  to  have  consump- 
tion, diabetes,  and  aneurism  to  bring  the  body 
to  the  grave  if  it  have  heart-disease.  He  who 
is  fatally  diseased  in  one  organ  necessarily 
pays  the  penalty  with  his  life,  though  all  the 
others  be  in  perfect  health.  And  such,  like- 
wise, are  the  mysterious  unity  and  correlation 
of  functions  in  the  spiritual  organism  that  the 
disease  of  one  member  may  involve  the  ruin  of 
the  whole.  The  reason,  therefore,  with  which 
Christ  follows  up  the  announcement  of  His 
Doctrine  of  Mutilation,  or  local  Suicide,  finds 
here  at  once  its  justification  and  interpretation : 
"  If  thy  right  eye  offend  thee,  pluck  it  out,  and 
cast  it  from  thee  :  for  it  is  profitable  for  thee 
that  one  of  thy  members  should  perish,  and 
not  that  thy  whole  body  should  be  cast  into  hell. 
And  if  thy  right  hand  offend  thee,  cut  it  off, 
and  cast  it  from  thee  :  for  it  is  profitable  for 
thee  that  one  of  thy  members  should  perish, 
and  not  that  thy  whole  body  should  be  cast 
into  helL" 


MORTIFICATION.  191 

Secondly,  Mortification.  The  warrant  for 
the  use  of  this  expression  is  found  in  the  well- 
known  phrases  of  Paul,  "  If  ye  through  the 
Spirit  do  mortify  the  deeds  of  the  body  ye  shall 
live,"  and  "  Mortify  therefore  your  members 
which  are  upon  earth."  The  word  mortify 
here  is,  literally,  to  make  to  die.  It  is  used,  :>f 
course,  in  no  specially  technical  sense  ;  and  to 
attempt  to  draw  a  detailed  moral  from  the 
pathology  of  mortification  would  be  equally 
fantastic  and  irrelevant.  But  without  in  any 
way  straining  the  meaning  it  is  obvious  that 
we  have  here  a  slight  addition  to  our  concep- 
tion of  dying  to  sin.  In  contrast  with  suicide, 
Mortification  implies  a  gradual  rather  than  a 
sudden  process.  The  contexts  in  which  the 
passages  occur  will  make  this  meaning  so  clear, 
and  are  otherwise  so  instructive  in  the  general 
connc  -tion,  that  we  may  quote  them,  from  the 
New  Version,  at  length :  "  They  that  are  after 
the  flesh  do  mind  the  things  of  the  flesh ;  but  they 
that  are  aft  r  the  Spirit  the  things  of  the  Spirit. 
For  the  mind  of  the  flesh  is  death  ;  but  the 
mind  of  the  Spirit  is  life  and  peace  :  because 
the  mind  of  the  flesh  is  enmity  against  God  ; 
for  it  is  not  ubject  to  the  law  of  God,  neither 
indeed  can  it  be  :  and  they  that  are  in  the  flesh 
cannot  please  God.  But  ye  are  not  in  the  flesh, 
but  in  the  Spirit,  if  so  be  that  the  Spirit  of  God 
dwell  in  you.  But  if  any  man  hath  not  the 
Spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none  of  His.  And  if 
Christ  is  in  you,  the  body  is  dead  because  of 
sin  ;  but  the  Spirit  is  life  because  of  righteous- 
ness. But  if  the  Spirit  of  Him  that  raised  up 


192  MORTIFICATION. 

Jesus  from  the  dead  dwelleth  in  you,  He  that 
raised  up  Christ  Jesus  from  the  dead  shall 
quicken  also  your  mortal  bodies  through  His 
Spirit  that  dwelleth  in  you.  So  then,  brethren, 
we  are  debtors  not  to  the  flesh,  to  live  after  the 
flesh  :  for  if  ye  live  after  the  flesh  ye  must  die ; 
but  if  by  the  spirit  ye  mortify  the  doings 
(marg.)  of  the  body,  ye  shall  live."  1 

And  again,  "  If  then  ye  were  raised  together 
with  Christ,  seek  the  things  that  are  above, 
where  Christ  is  seated  on  the  right  hand  of 
God.  Set  your  mind  on  the  things  that  are 
above,  not  on  the  things  that  are  upon  the 
earth.  For  ye  died,  and  your  life  is  hid  with 
Christ  in  God.  When  C  oist,  who  is  our  life, 
shall  be  manifested,  then  shall  ye  also  with 
Him  be  manifested  in  glory.  Mortify  there- 
fore your  members  which  are  upon  the  earth ; 
fornication,  uncleanness,  passion,  evil  desire, 
and  covetousness,  the  which  is  idolatry;  for 
which  things'  sake  cometh  the  wrath  of  God 
upon  the  sons  of  disobedience;  in  the  which 
ye  also  walked  aforetime,  when  ye  lived  in 
these  things.  But  now  put  ye  also  away  all 
these ;  anger,  wrath,  malice,  railing,  shameful 
speaking  out  of  your  mouth :  lie  not  one  to  an- 
other ;  seeing  that  ye  have  put  off  the  old  man 
with  his  doings,  and  have  put  on  the  new  man, 
which  is  being  renewed  unto  knowledge  after 
the  image  of  Him  that  created  him."  2 

From  he  nature  of  the  case  as  h  re  stated 
it  is  evident  that  no  sudden  process  could  en- 

*  Rome,  viii.   5-13.  a  Col.  iii.  1-1C. 


MORTIFICATION.  19b 

tirely  transfer  a  man  from  the  old  into  the  new 
relation.  To  break  altogether,  and  at  every 
point,  with  the  old  environment,  is  a  simple 
impossibility.  So  long  as  the  regenerate  man 
is  kept  in  this  world,  he  must  find  the  old  en- 
vironment at  many  points  a  severe  temptation. 
Power  over  very  many  of  the  commonest  temp- 
tations is  only  to  be  won  by  degrees,  and  how- 
ever anxious  one  might  be  to  apply  the  sum- 
mary method  to  every  case,  he  soon  finds  it 
impossible  in  practice.  The  difficulty  in  these 
cases  arises  from  a  peculiar  feature  of  the 
temptation.  The  difference  between  a  sin  of 
drunkenness,  and,  let  us  say,  a  sin  of  temper, 
is  that  in  the  former  case  the  victim  who 
would  reform  has  mainly  to  deal  with  the  en- 
vironment, but  in  the  latter  with  he  correspon- 
dence. The  drunkard's  temptation  is  a  known 
and  definite  quantity.  His  safety  lies  in  avoid- 
ing some  external  and  material  substance.  Of 
course,  at  bottom,  he  is  really  dealing  with  the 
correspondence  every  time  he  resists;  he  is 
distinctly  controlling  appetite.  Nevertheless 
it  is  less  the  appetite  that  absorbs  his  mind 
than  the  environment.  And  so  long  as  he  can 
keep  himself  clear  of  the  "  external  relation," 
to  use  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer's  phraseology,  he 
has  much  less  difficulty  with  the  "  internal 
relation."  The  ill-tempered  person,  on  the  other 
hand,  can  make  very  little  of  his  environment. 
However  he  may  attempt  to  circumscribe  it  in 
certain  directions,  tnere  will  always  remain  » 
wide  and  ever-changing  area  to  stimulate  his 
irascibility.  His  environment,  in  short,  is  ac 


194  MORTIFICATION. 

inconstant  quantity,  and  his  most  elaborate 
calculations  and  precautions  must  often  and 
suddenly  fail  him. 

What  he  has  to  deal  with,  then,  mainly  is  the 
correspondence,  the  temper  itself.  And  that, 
he  well  knows,  involves  a  long  and  humiliating 
discipline.  The  case  now  is  not  at  all  a  surgical 
but  a  medical  one,  and  the  knife  is  here  of  no 
more  use  than  in  a  fever.  A  specific  irritant 
has  poisoned  his  veins.  And  the  acrid  humors 
that  are  breaking  out  all  over  the  surface  of 
his  life  are  only  to  be  subdued  by  a  gradual 
sweetening  of  the  inward  spirit.  It  is  now 
known  that  the  human  body  acts  towards 
certain  fever-germs  as  a  sort  of  soil.  The  man 
whose  blood  is  pure  has  nothing  to  fear.  So 
he  whose  spirit  is  purified  and  sweetened  be- 
comes proof  against  these  germs  of  sin.  "  An- 
ger, wrath,  malice  and  railing  "  in  such  a  soil 
can  find  no  root. 

The  difference  between  this  and  the  former 
method  of  dealing  with  sin  may  be  illustrated 
by  another  analogy.  The  two  processes  depend 
upon  two  different  natural  principles.  The  muti- 
lation of  a  member,  for  instance,  finds  its  ana- 
logue in  the  horticultural  operation  of  pruning, 
where  the  object  is  to  divert  life  from  a  useless 
into  a  useful  channel.  A  part  of  a  plant  which 
previously  monopolized  a  large  share  of  the 
vigor  of  the  total  organism,  but  without  yielding 
any  adequate  return,  is  suddenly  cut  off,  so  that 
the  vital  processes  may  proceed  more  actively 
in  some  fruitful  parts.  Christ's  use  of  this  fig- 
ure is  well-known:  "Every  branch  in  Me  that 


MORTIFICATION.  195 

beareth  not  fruit  He  purgeth  it  that  it  may 
bring  forth  more  fruit."  The  strength  of  the 
plant,  that  is,  being  given  to  the  formation  of 
mere  wood,  a  number  of  useless  correspond- 
ences have  to  be  abruptly  closed  while  the  use- 
ful connections  are  allowed  to  remain.  The 
Mortification  of  a  member,  again,  is  based  011 
the  Law  of  Degeneration.  The  useless  mem- 
ber here  is  not  cut  off,  but  simply  relieved  as 
much  as  possible  of  all  exercise.  This  en- 
courages the  gradual  decay  of  the  parts,  and 
as  it  is  more  and  more  neglected  it  ceases  to  be  a 
channel  for  life  at  all.  So  an  organism  "  morti- 
fies "  its  members. 

Thirdly,  Limitation.  While  a  large  number 
of  correspondences  between  man  and  his  en- 
vironment can  be  stopped  in  these  ways,  there 
are  many  more  which  neither  can  be  reduced 
by  a  gradual  Mortification  nor  cut  short  by 
sudden  Death.  One  reason  for  this  is  that  to 
tamper  with  these  correspondences  might  in- 
volve injury  to  closely  related  vital  parts.  Or, 
again,  there  are  organs  which  are  really  essen- 
tial to  the  normal  life  of  the  organism,  and 
which  therefore  the  organism  cannot  afford  to 
lose  even  though  at  times  they  act  prejudi- 
cially. Not  a  few  correspondences,  for  instance, 
are  not  wrong  in  themselves  but  only  in  their 
extremes.  Up  to  a  certain  point  they  are  law- 
ful and  necessary ;  beyond  that  point  they  may 
become  not  only  unnecessary  but  sinful.  The 
appropriate  treatment  in  these  and  similar 
cases  consists  in  a  process  of  Limitation.  The 
performance  of  this  operation,  it  must  be  con- 


196  MORTIFICATION. 

fessed,  requires  a  most  delicate  hand.  It  ia 
an  art,  moreover,  which  no  one  can  teach 
another.  And  yet,  if  it  is  not  learned  by  all 
who  are  trying  to  lead  the  Christian  life,  it 
cannot  be  for  want  of  practice.  For,  as  we 
ihall  see,  the  Christian  is  called  upon  to  exer- 
cise few  things  more  frequently. 

An  easy  illustration  of  a  correspondence 
which  is  only  wrong  when  carried  to  an  ex- 
treme, is  the  love  of  money.  The  love  of 
money  up  to  a  certain  peint  is  a  necessity; 
beyond  that  it  may  become  one  of  the  worst 
of  sins.  Christ  said :  "  Ye  cannot  serve  God 
and  Mammon."  The  two  services,  at  a  definite 
point,  become  incompatible,  and  hence  corre- 
spondence with  one  must  cease.  At  what  point, 
however,  it  must  cease  each  man  has  to  de- 
termine for  himself.  And  in  this  consists  at 
once  the  difficulty  and  the  dignity  of  Limita- 
tion. 

There  is  another  class  of  cases  where  the 
adjustments  are  still  more  difficult  to  deter- 
mine. Innumerable  points  exist  in  our  sur- 
roundings with  which  it  is  perfectly  legitimate 
to  enjoy,  and  even  to  cultivate,  correspondence, 
but  which  privilege,  at  the  same  time,  it  were 
better  on  the  whole  that  we  did  not  use.  Cir- 
cumstances are  occasionally  such — the  de- 
mands of  others  upon  us,  for  example,  may  be 
so  clamant — that  we  have  voluntarily  to  reduce 
the  area  of  legitimate  pleasure.  Or,  instead 
of  it  coming  from  others,  the  claim  may  come 
from  a  still  higher  direction.  Man's  spiritual 
Mfe  consists  in  the  number  and  fulness  of  his 


M  OR  TIFICA  TION.  1 97 

correspondences  with  God.  In  order  to  de- 
velop these  he  may  be  constrained  to  insulate 
them,  to  enclose  them  from  the  other  corre- 
spondences, to  shut  himself  in  with  them.  In 
many  ways  the  limitation  of  the  natural  life  is. 
the  necessary  condition  of  the  full  enjoyment 
of  the  spiritual  life. 

In  this  principle  lies  the  true  philosophy  of 
self-denial.  No  man  is  called  to  a  life  of  self- 
denial  for  its  own  sake.  It  is  in  order  to  a 
compensation  which,  though  sometimes  diffi- 
cult to  see,  is  always  real  and  always  propor- 
tionate. No  truth,  perhaps,  in  practical  re- 
ligion is  more  lost  sight  of.  We  cherish  some- 
how a  lingering  rebellion  against  the  doctrine 
of  self-denial — as  if  our  nature,  or  our  circum- 
stances, or  our  conscience,  dealt  with  us 
severely  in  loading  us  with  the  daily  cross. 
But  is  it  not  plain  after  all  that  the  life  of  self- 
denial  is  the  more  abundant  life — more  abun- 
dant just  in  proportion  to  the  ampler 
crucifixion  of  th  narrower  life  ?  Is  it  not  a 
clear  case  of  exchange — an  exchange  however 
where  the  advantage  is  entirely  on  our  side  ? 
We  give  up  a  correspondence  in  which  there 
is  a  little  life  to  enj  y  a  correspondence  in 
which  there  is  an  abundant  life.  What  though 
we  sacrifice  a  hundred  such  orrespondences  ? 
We  make  but  the  more  room  for  the  great  one 
that  is  left.  The  lesson  of  self-denial,  that  is 
to  say  of  Limitation,  is  concentration.  Do  not 
spoil  your  life,  it  says,  at  the  outset  with  un- 
worthy and  impoverishing  correspondences  ; 
and  if  it  is  growing  truly  rich  and  abundant^ 


198  MORTIFICATION. 

foe  very  jealous  of  ever  diluting  its  high  eternal 
quality  with  anything  of  earth.  To  concentrate 
upon  a  few  great  correspondences,  to  oppose 
to  the  death  the  perpetual  petty  larceny  of  our 
life  by  trifles — these  are  the  conditions  for  the 
highest  and  happiest  life.  It  is  only  Limita- 
tion which  can  secure  the  Illimitable. 

The  penalty  of  evading  self-denial  also  is 
just  that  we  get  the  lesser  instead  of  the  larger 
good.  The  punishment  of  sin  is  inseparably 
bound  up  with  itself.  To  refuse  to  deny  one's 
self  is  just  to  be  left  with  the  self  undenied. 
When  the  balance  of  life  is  struck,  the  self  will 
ba  found  still  there.  The  discipline  of  life  was 
meant  to  destroy  this  self,  but  that  discipline 
having  been  evaded — and  we  all  to  some  extent 
have  opportunities,  and  too  often  exercise  them, 
of  taking  the  narrow  path  by  the  shortest  cuts 
— its  purpose  is  balked.  But  the  soul  is  the 
loser.  In  seeking  to  gain  its  life  it  has  really 
lost  it.  This  is  what  Christ  meant  when  He 
said  :  "  He  that  loveth  his  life  shall  lose  it,  and 
he  that  hateth  his  life  in  this  world  shall  keep 
it  unto  life  eternal." 

Why  does  Christ  say  :  "  Hate  Life  "  ?  Does 
He  mean  that  life  is  a  sin  ?  Xo.  Life  is  not  a 
sin.  Still,  He  says  we  must  hate  it.  But  we 
must  live.  Why  should  we  hate  what  we 
must  do  ?  For  this  reason,  Life  is  not  a  sin, 
but  the  love  of  life  may  be  a  sin.  And  the  best 
way  not  to  love  life  is  to  hate  it.  Is  it  a  sin 
then  to  love  life  ?  Not  a  sin  exactly,  but  a 
mistake.  It  is  a  sin  to  love  some  life,  a  mis- 
take to  love  the  rest.  Because  that  love  is 


MORTIFICATION.  199 

lost.  All  that  is  lavished  on  it  is  lost.  Christ 
does  not  say  it  is  wrong  to  love  life.  He  simply 
says  it  is  loss.  Each  man  has  only  a  certain 
amount  of  life,  of  time,  of  attention — a  definite 
measurable  quantity.  If  he  gives  any  of  it  to 
this  life  solely  it  is  wasted.  Therefore  Christ 
say  ,  Hate  life,  limit  life,  lest  you  steal  youi 
love  for  it  from  something  that  deserves  it 
more. 

Now  this  does  not  apply  to  all  life.  It  IR 
"  life  in  this  world  "  that  is  to  be  hated.  For 
life  in  this  world  implies  conformity  to  this 
world.  It  may  not  mean  pursuing  worldly 
"ensures,  or  mixing  with  worldly  sets  ;  but 
asubtler  thing  than  that — a  silent  deference  to 
worldly  opinion  ;  an  almost  unconscious  lower- 
ing of  religious  tone  to  the  level  of  the  worldly 
religious  world  around  ;  a  subdued  resistance 
to  the  soul's  delicate  promptings  to  greater 
consecration,  out  of  deference  to  "  breadth  "  or 
fear  of  ridicule.  These,  and  such  things,  are 
what  Christ  tells  us  we  must  hate.  For  these 
things  are  of  the  very  essence  of  worldliness. 
"  If  any  man  love  the  world,"  even  in  this  sense, 
"  the  love  of  the  Father  is  not  in  him." 

There  are  two  ways  of  hating  life,  a  true  and 
a  false.  Some  men  hate  life  because  it  hates 
them.  They  have  seen  through  it,  and  it  has 
turned  round  upon  them.  They  have  drunk 
it,  and  came  to  the  dregs  ;  therefore  they  hate 
it.  This  is  one  of  the  ways  in  which  the  man 
who  loves  his  life  literally  loses  it.  He  loves 
it  till  he  loses  it,  then  he  hates  it  because  it 
has  fooled  him.  The  other  way  is  the  religious. 


200  MORTIFICATION. 

For  religious  reasons  a  man  deliberately  braces 
himself  to  the  systematic  hating  of  his  life. 
"  No  man  can  serve  two  masters,  for  either  he 
must  hate  the  one  and  love  the  other,  or  else 
he  must  hold  to  the  one  and  despise  the  other." 
Despising  the  other — this  is  hating  life,  limit- 
ing life.  It  is  not  misanthropy,  but  Chris- 
tianity. 

This  principle,  as  has  been  said,  contains  the 
true  philosophy  of  self-denial.  It  also  holds 
the  secret  by  which  self-denial  may  be  most 
easily  borne.  A  common  conception  of  self- 
denial  is  that  there  are  a  multitude  of  things 
about  life  which  are  to  be  put  down  with  a 
high  hand  the  moment  they  make  their  appear- 
ance. They  are  temptations  which  are  not  to 
be  tolerated,  but  must  be  instantly  crushed 
out  of  being  with  pang  and  effort. 

So  life  comes  to  be  a  constant  and  sore  cut- 
ting off  of  things  which  we  love  as  our  right 
hand.  But  now  suppose  one  tried  boldly  to 
hate  these  things?  Suppose  we  deliberately 
made  up  our  minds  as  to  what  things  we  were 
henceforth  to  allow  to  become  our  life?  Sup- 
pose we  selected  a  given  area  of  our  environ- 
ment and  determined  once  for  all  that  our  cor- 
respondences should  go  to  that  alone,  fencing 
in  this  area  all  round  with  a  morally  impassa- 
ble wall  ?  True,  to  others,  we  should  seem  to 
live  a  poorer  life ;  they  would  see  that  our  en- 
vironment was  circumscribed,  and  call  us  nar- 
row because  it  was  narrow.  But,  well-chosen, 
this  limited  life  would  be  really  the  fullest  life ; 
it  would  be  rich  in  the  highest  and  worthiest, 


MORTIFICATION.  201 

and  poor  in  the  smallest  and  basest  correspond- 
ences. The  well-defined  spiritual  life  is  not 
only  the  highest  life,  hut  it  is  also  the  most 
easily  lived.  The  whole  cross  is  more  easily 
carried  than  the  half.  It  is  the  man  who  tries 
to  make  the  best  of  both  worlds  who  makes 
nothing  of  either.  And  he  who  seeks  to  serve 
two  masters  misses  the  benediction  of  both. 
But  he  who  has  taken  his  stand,  who  has 
drawn  a  boundary  line,  sharp  and  deep  about 
his  religious  life,  who  has  marked  off  all  be- 
yond as  forever  forbidden  ground  to  him,  finds 
the  yoke  easy  and  the  burden  light.  For  this 
forbidden  environment  comes  to  be  as  if  it 
were  not.  His  faculties  falling  out  of  corre- 
spondence, slowly  lose  their  sensibilities.  And 
the  balm  of  Death  numbing  his  lower  nature 
releases  him  for  the  scarce  disturbed  com- 
munion of  a  higher  life.  So  even  here  to  die 
is  gain. 


ETERNAL  LIFE. 


"  Supposing  that  man,  in  some  form,  is  permitted 
to  remain  on  the  earth  for  a  long  series  of  years,  we 
merely  lengthen  out  the  period,  but  we  cannot  escape 
the  final  catastrophe^  The  earth  will  gradually  lose  its 
energy  of  rotation,  as  well  as  that  of  revolution  round 
the  sun.  The  sun  himself  will  wax  dim  and  become 
useless  as  a  source  of  energy,  until  at  last  the  favor- 
able condition  of  the  present  solar  system  will  have 
quite  disappeared. 

"  But  what  happens  to  our  system  will  happen  like- 
wise to  the  whole  visible  universe,  which  will,  if  finite, 
become  a  lifeless  mass,  if  indeed  it  be  not  doomed  to 
utter  dissolution.  In  fine,  it  will  become  old  and  effete, 
no  less  truly  than  the  individual.  It  is  a  glorious  gar- 
ment, this  visible  universe,  but  not  an  immortal  one. 
We  must  look  elsewhere  if  we  are  to  be  clothed  with 
immortality  as  with  a  garment." 

THE  UNSEEN  UNIVERSE. 


ETERNAL 

"  This  is  Life  Eternal— that  they  might  know  Thee 
the  True  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  Thou  hast  sent." 
— Jesus  Christ. 

"  Perfect  correspondence  would  be  perfect  life.  Were 
there  no  changes  in  the  environment  but  such  as  the 
organism  had  adapted  changes  to  meet,  and  were  it  never 
to  fail  in  the  efficiency  with  which  it  met  them,  there 
would  be  eternal  existence  and  eternal  knowledge." — 
Herbert  Spencer. 

ONE  of  the  most  startling  achievements  of 
recent  science  is  a  definition  of  Eternal  Life. 
To  the  religious  mind  this  is  a  contribution 
of  immense  moment.  For  eighteen  hundred 
years  only  one  definition  of  Life  Eternal  was 
before  the  world.  Now  there  are  two. 

Through  all  these  centuries  revealed  religion 
had  this  doctrine  to  itself.  Ethics  had  a  voice, 
as  well  as  Christianity,  on  the  question  of  the 
siimmum  bomim ;  Philosophy  ventured  to 
speculate  on  the  Being  of  a  God.  But  no 
source  outside  Christianity  contributed  any- 
thing to  the  doctrine  of  Eternal  Life.  Apart 
from  Revelation,  this  great  truth  was  un- 
guaranteed. It  was  the  one  thing  in  the  Chris- 
tian system  that  most  needed  verification  from 
without,  yet  none  was  forthcoming.  And 
never  has  any  further  light  been  thrown  upon 

205 


ETERNAL  LIFE. 

the  question  why  in  its  very  nature  the  Chris- 
tian Life  should  be  Eternal.  Christianity  itself 
even  upon  this  point  has  been  obscure.  Its 
decision  upon  the  bare  fact  is  authoritative 
and  specific.  But  as  to  what  there  is  in  the 
Spiritual  Life  necessarily  endowing  it  with  the 
element  of  Eternity,  the  mature'st  theology  is 
all  bui  silent. 

It  has  been  reserved  for  modern  biology  at 
once  to  defend  and  illuminate  this  central 
truth  of  the  Christian  faith.  And  hence  in 
the  interests  of  religion,  practical  and  eviden- 
tial, this  second  and  scientific  definition  of 
Eternal  Life  is  to  be  hailed  as  an  announcement 
of  commanding  interest.  Why  it  should  not 
yet  have  received  the  recognition  of  religious 
thinkers — for  already  it  has  lain  some  years 
unnoticed — is  not  difficult  to  understand.  The 
belief  in  Science  as  an  aid  to  faith  is  not  yet 
ripe  enough  to  warrant  men  in  searching  there 
for  witnesses  to  the  highest  Christian  truths. 
The  inspiration  of  Nature,  it  is  thought,  ex- 
tends to  the  humbler  doctrines  alone.  And  yet 
the  reverent  inquirer  who  guides  his  steps  in 
the  right  direction  may  find  even  now  in  the 
still  dim  twilight  of  the  scientific  world  much 
that  will  illuminate  and  intensify  his  sublimest 
faith.  Here,  at  least,  comes,  and  conies  unbid- 
den, the  opportunity  of  testing  the  most  vital 
point  of  the  Christian  system.  Hitherto  the 
Christian  philosopher  has  remained  content 
with  the  scientific  evidence  against  Annihila- 
tion. Or,  with  Butler,  he  has  reasoned  from 
the  Metamorphoses  of  Insects  to  a  future  life. 


ETEENAL  LIFE.  207 

Or  again,  with  the  authors  of  "  The  Unseen 
Universe,"  the  apologist  has  constructed  elab- 
orate, and  certainly  impressive,  arguments 
upon  the  Law  of  Continuity.  But  now  we 
may  draw  nearer.  For  the  first  time  Science 
touches  Christianity  positively  on  the  doctrine 
of  Immortality.  It  confronts  us  with  an  actual 
definition  of  an  Eternal  Life,  based  on  a  full 
and  rigidly  accurate  examination  of  the  neces- 
sary conditions.  Science  does  not  pretend 
that  it  can  fulfil  these  conditions.  Its  votaries 
make  no  claim  to  possess  the  Eternal  Life.  It 
simply  postulates  the  requisite  conditions  with- 
out  concerning  itself  whether  any  organism 
should  ever  appear,  or  does  now  exis^  which 
mighv  fulfil  them.  The  claim  of  religion,  on 
the  other  hand,  is  that  there  are  organisms 
which  possess  Eternal  Life.  And  the  problem 
for  us  to  solve  is  this :  Do  those  who  profess 
to  possess  Eternal  Life  fulfil  the  conditions 
required  by  Science,  or  are  they  different  con- 
ditions ?  In  a  word,  Is  the  Christian  concep- 
tion of  Eternal  Life  scientific  ? 

It  may  be  unnecessary  to  notice  at  the  out- 
set that  the  definition  of  Eternal  Life  drawn 
up  by  Science  was  framed  without  reference  to 
religion.  It  must  indeed  have  been  the  last 
thought  with  the  thinker  to  whom  we  chiefly 
owe  it,  that  in  unfolding  the  conception  of  a 
Life  in  its  very  nature  necessarily  eternal,  he 
was  contributing  to  Theology. 

Mr.  Herbert  Spencer — for  it  is  to  him  we 
owe  it — would  be  the  first  to  admit  the  impar- 
tiality of  his  definition ;  and  from  the  conneo 


208  ETERNAL  LIFE. 

tion  in  which  it  occurs  in  his  writings,  it  i? 
obvious  that  religion  was  not  even  present  to 
his  mind.  He  is  analyzing  with  minute  care 
the  relations  between  Environment  and  Life. 
fie  unfolds  the  principle  according  to  which 
Life  is  high  or  low,  long  or  short.  He  shows 
why  organisms  live  and  why  they  die.  And 
finally  he  defines  a  condition  of  things  in  which 
an  organism  would  never  die — in  which  it 
would  enjoy  a  perpetual  and  perfect  Life. 
This  to  him  is,  of  course,  but  a  speculation. 
Life  Eternal  is  a  biological  conceit.  The  condi- 
tions necessary  to  an  Eternal  Life  do  not  exist 
in  the  natural  world.  So  that  the  definition  is 
altogether  impartial  and  independent.  A  Per- 
fect Life,  to  Science,  is  simply  a  thing  which  is 
theoretically  possible — like  a  Perfect  Vacuum. 
Before  giving,  in  so  many  words,  the  defini- 
t'  of  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer,  it  will  render  it 
fully  intelligible  if  we  gradually  lead  up  to  it 
by  a  brief  rehearsal  of  the  few  and  simple  bi- 
ological facts  on  which  it  is  based.  In  con- 
sidering the  subject  of  Death,  we  have 
formerly  seen  that  there  are  degrees  of  Life. 
By  this  is  meant  hat  some  lives  have  more 
and  duller  correspondence  with  Environment 
than  others.  r  he  amount  of  correspondence, 
again,  is  determined  by  the  greater  or  less 
complexity  of  the  organism.  Thus  a  simple 
organism  like  t  e  Amoeba  is  possessed  of  very 
few  correspondences.  It  is  a  mere  sac  of 
transparent  structureless  jelly  for  which 
organization  has  done  almost  nothing,  and 
hence  it  can  only  communicate  with  the  small- 


ETERNAL  LIFE.  209 

est  possible  area  of  Environment.  An  in- 
sect, in  virtue  of  its  more  complex  structure, 
corresponds  with  a  wider  area.  Nature  has 
endowed  it  with  special  faculties  for  reaching 
out  to  the  Environment  on  many  sides  :  it  has 
more  life  than  the  Amosba.  In  other  words, 
it  is  a  higher  animal.  Man  again,  whose  body 
is  still  further  differentiated,  or  broken  up  into 
different  correspondences,  finds  himself  en 
rapport  with  his  surroundings  to  a  further  ex- 
tent. And  therefore  he  is  higher  still,  more 
living  still.  And  this  law,  that  the  degree  of 
Life  varies  with  the  degree  of  correspondence, 
holds  to  the  minutest  detail  throughout  the 
entire  range  of  living  things.  Life  becomes 
fuller  and  fuller,  richer  and  richer,  more 
and  more  sensitive  and  responsive  to  an  ever- 
widening  Environment  as  we  rise  in  the  chain 
of  being. 

Now  it  will  speedily  appear  that  a  distinct 
relation  exists,  and  must  exist,  between  com- 
plexity and  longevity.  Death  being  brought 
about  by  the  failure  of  an  organism  to  adjust 
itself  to  some  change  in  the  Environment,  it 
follows  that  those  organisms  which  are  able  to 
adjust  themselves  most  readily  and  successfully 
will  live  the  longest.  They  will  continue  time 
after  time  to  effect  the  appropriate  adjustment, 
and  their  power  of  doing  so  will  be  exactly 
proportionate  to  their  complexity — that  is,  to 
the  amount  of  Environment  they  can  control 
with  their  correspondences.  There  are,  for 
example,  in  the  Environment  of  every  animal 
certain  things  which  are  directly  or  indirectly 
14 


210  STERNAL  LIFE. 

dangerous  to  Life.  If  its  equipment  of 
spondences  is  not  complete  enough  to  enable 
it  to  avoid  these  dangers  hi  all  possible 
circumstances,  it  must  sooner  or  later  suc- 
cumb. The  organism  then  with  the  most 
perfect  set  of  correspondences,  that  is,  the 
highest  and  most  complex  organism,  has  an 
obvious  advantage  over  less  complex  forms. 
It  can  adjust  itself  more  perfectly  and  fre- 
quently. But  this  is  just  the  biological  way 
of  saying  that  it  can  live  the  longest.  And 
hence  the  relation  between  complexity  and 
longevity  may  be  expressed  thus — the  most 
complex  organisms  are  the  longest  lived. 

To  state  and  illustrate  the  proposition  con- 
versely  may  make  the  point  still  further  clear. 
The  less  highly  organized  an  animal  is,  the  less 
will  be  its  chance  of  remaining  in  lengthened 
correspondence  with  its  environment.  At 
some  time  or  other  in  its  career  circumstances 
are  sure  to  occur  to  which  the  comparatively 
immobile  organism  finds  itself  structurally 
unable  to  respond.  Thus  a  Medusa  tossed 
ashore  by  a  wave,  finds  itself  so  out  of  corre- 
spondence with  its  new  surroundings  that 
its  life  must  pay  the  forfeit.  Had  it  been  able 
by  internal  change  to  adapt  itself  to  external 
change — to  correspond  sufficiently  with  the 
new  environment,  as  for  example  to  crawl,  as 
an  eel  would  have  done,  back  into  that  environ- 
ment with  which  it  had  completer  correspond- 
ence— its  life  might  have  been  spared.  But 
had  this  happened  it  would  continue  to  live 
henceforth  only  so  long  as  it  could  continue 


ETERNAL  LIFE.  211 

In  correspondence  with  all  the  circumstances 
in  which  it  might  find  itself.  Even  if,  how- 
ever, it  became  complex  enough  to  resist  the 
ordinary  and  direct  dangers  of  its  environ- 
ment, it  might  still  be  out  of  correspondence 
with  others.  A  naturalist,  for  instance,  might 
take  advantage  of  its  want  of  correspondence 
with  particular  sights  and  sounds  to  capture 
it  for  his  cabinet,  or  the  sudden  dropping  of  a 
yacht's  anchor  or  the  turn  of  a  screw  might 
cause  its  untimely  death. 

Again,  in  the  case  of  a  bird,  in  virtue  of  its 
more  complex  organization,  there  is  command 
over  a  much  larger  area  of  environment.  It 
can  take  precautions  such  as  the  Medusa  could 
not;  it  has  increased  facilities  for  securing 
food ;  its  adjustments  all  round  are  more  com- 
plex ;  and  therefore  it  ought  to  be  able  to  main- 
tain its  Life  for  a  longer  period.  There  is  still 
a  large  area,  however,  over  which  it  has  no 
control.  Its  power  of  internal  change  is  not 
complete  enough  to  afford  it  perfect  corre- 
spondence with  all  external  changes,  and  its 
tenure  of  life  is  to  that  extent  insecure.  Its 
correspondence,  moreover,  is  limited  even  with 
regard  to  those  external  conditions  with  which 
it  has  been  partially  established.  Thus  a  bird 
In  ordinary  circumstances  has  no  difficulty  in 
adapting  itself  to  changes  of  temperature,  but 
if  these  are  varied  beyond  the  point  at  which 
its  capacity  of  adjustment  begins  to  fail — for 
example,  during  an  extreme  winter — the  or- 
ganism being  unable  to  meet  the  condition 
must  perish.  The  human  organism,  on  the 


212  ETERNAL  LIFE. 

other  hand,  can  respond  to  this  external  con- 
dition, as  well  as  to  countless  other  vicissitudes 
under  which  lower  forms  would  inevitably 
succumb.  Man's  adjustments  are  to  the  larg- 
est known  area  of  Environment,  and  hence  he 
3nght  to  be  able  furthest  to  prolong  his  Life. 

/It  becomes  evident,  then,  that  as  we  ascend 
in  the  scale  of  Life  we  rise  also  in  the  scale  of 
longevity.  The  lowest  organisms  are,  as  a 
rule,  short-lived,  and  the  rate  of  mortality  di- 
minishes more  or  less  regularly  as  we  ascend  in 
the  animal  scale.  So  extraordinary  indeed  is 
the  mortality  among  lowly-organized  forms 
that  in  most  cases  a  compensation  is  actually 
provided,  nature  endowing  them  with  a  mar- 
vellously increased  fertility  in  order  to  guard 
against  absolute  extinction.  Almost  all  lower 
forms  are  furnished  not  only  with  great  re- 
productive powers,  but  with  different  methods 
of  propagation,  by  which,  in  various  circum- 
stances, and  in  an  incredibly  short  time,  the 
species  can  be  indefinitely  multiplied.  Ehren- 
berg  found  that  by  the  repeated  subdivisions  of 
a  single  Paramecium,  no  fewer  than  268,000,- 
000  similar  organisms  might  be  produced  in 
one  month.  This  power  steadily  decreases  as 
we  rise  higher  in  the  scale,  until  forms  are 
reached  in  which  one,  two,  or  at  most  three, 
come  into  being  at  a  birth.  It  decreases,  how- 
ever, because  it  is  no  longer  needed.  These 
forms  have  a  much  longer  lease  of  Life.  And 
it  may  be  taken  as  a  rule,  although  it  has  ex- 
ceptions, that  complexity  in  animal  organisms 
is  always  associated  with  longevity. 


ETERNAL  LIFE.  213 

It  may  be  objected  that  these  illustrations 
are  taken  merely  from  morbid  conditions.  But 
whether  the  Life  be  cut  short  by  accident  or 
by  disease  the  principle  is  the  same.  All  dis- 
solution is  brought  about  practically  in  the  same 
way.  A  certain  condition  in  the  Environ- 
ment fails  to  be  met  by  a  corresponding  con- 
dition in  the  organism,  and  this  is  death.  And 
conversely  the  more  an  organism  in  virtue  of 
its  complexity  can  adapt  itself  to  all  the  parts 
of  its  Environment,  the  longer  it  will  live. 
"It  is  manifest  d,  priori,"  says  Mr.  Herbert 
Spencer.  "  that  since  changes  in  the  physical 
state  of  the  environment,  as  also  those  mechan- 
ical actions  and  those  variations  of  available 
food  which  occur  in  it,  are  liable  to  stop  the 
processes  going  on  in  the  organism ;  and  since 
the  adaptive  changes  in  the  organism  have  the 
effects  of  directly  or  indirectly  counterbalanc- 
ing these  changes  in  the  environment,  it  fol- 
lows that  the  life  of  the  organism  will  be  short 
or  long,  low  or  high,  according  to  the  extent 
to  which  changes  in  the  environment  are  met 
by  corresponding  changes  in  the  organism. 
Allowing  a  margin  for  perturbations,  the  life 
will  continue  only  while  the  correspondence 
continues;  the  completeness  of  the  life  will 
be  proportionate  to  the  completeness  of 
the  correspondence;  and  the  life  will  be 
perfect  only  when  the  correspondence  ia 
perfect." l 

We  are  now  all  but  in  sight  of  our  scientific 

>  "  Principles  of  Biology,"  p.  82. 


214  ETEENAL  LIFE. 

definition  of  Eternal  Life.  The  desideratum 
is  an  organism  with  a  correspondence  of  a  very 
exceptional  kind.  It  must  lie  beyond  the 
reach  of  those  "  mechanical  actions  "  and  those 
"  variations  of  available  food,"  which  are 
"  liable  to  stop  the  processes  going  on  in  the 
organism."  Before  we  reach  an  Eternal  Life 
we  must  pass  beyond  that  point  at  which  all 
ordinary  correspondences  inevitably  cease. 
We  must  find  an  organism  so  high  and  complex, 
that  at  some  point  in  its  development  it  shall 
have  added  a  correspondence  which  organic 
death  is  powerless  to  arrest.  "We  must  in 
short  pass  beyond  that  finite  region  where  the 
correspondences  depend  on  evanescent  and 
material  media,  and  enter  a  further  region 
wh  re  the  Environment  corresponded  with  is 
itself  Eternal.  Such  an  Environment  exists. 
The  Environment  of  the  Spiritual  world  is  out- 
side the  influence  of  these"  mechanical  actions," 
which  sooner  or  later  interrupt  the  processes 
going  on  in  all  finite  organisms.  If  then  we 
can  find  an  organism  which  has  established  a 
correspondence  with  the  spiritual  world,  that 
correspondence  will  possess  the  elements  of 
eternity — provided  only  one  other  condition  be 
fulfilled. 

That  condition  is  that  the  Environment  be 
perfect.  If  it  is  not  perfect,  if  it  is  not  the 
highest,  if  it  is  endowed  with  the  finite  quality 
of  change,  there  can  be  no  guarantee  that  the 
Life  of  its  correspondents  will  be  eternal. 
Some  change  might  occur  in  it  which  the 
correspondents  had  no  adaptive  changes  to 


ETERNAL  LIFE.  2ls» 

meet,  and  Life  would  erase.  But  grant  a 
spiritual  organism  i  perfect  correspondence 
with  a  perfect  sp:  itual  Environment  and  the 
conditions  necessary  to  Eternal  Lif"  are  satis- 
fied. 

The  exact  terms  of  Mr.  H  rbert  Spencer's 
definition  of  Eternal  Life  may  now  be  given. 
And  it  will  be  seen  that  they  incluie  essen- 
tially  the  conditions  here  laid  down,  "  Perfect 
correspondence  would  be  perfect  life.  Were 
there  no  changes  in  the  environment  but  such 
as  the  organism  had  adapted  changes  to  meet, 
and  were  it  never  to  fail  in  the  efficiency  with 
which  it  met  them,  there  would  be  eternal  ex- 
istence and  eternal  knowledge."  *  Reserving 
the  question  as  to  the  possible  fulfilment  of 
these  conditions,  let  us  turn  for  a  moment  to 
the  definition  of  Eternal  Life  laid  down  by 
Christ.  Let  us  place  it  alongside  the  defini- 
tion of  Science,  and  mark  the  points  of  con- 
tact. Uninterrupted  correspondence  with  a 
perfect  Environment  is  Eternal  Life  according 
to  Science.  "  This  is  Life  Eternal,"  said  Christ, 
"  that  they  may  know  Thee,  the  only  true  God, 
and  Jesus  Christ  whom  Thou  hast  sent."2  Life 
Eternal  is  to  know  God.  To  know  God  is  to 
"  correspond  "  with  God.  To  correspond  with 
God  is  to  correspond  with  a  Perfect  Environ- 
ment. And  the  organism  which  attains  to  this, 
in  the  nature  of  things  must  live  forever. 
Here  is  "  eternal  existence  and  eternal  knowl- 
edge." 

1  Principles  of  Biology,"  p.  88. 

*  John  x  viL 


216  ETERNAL  LIFE. 

The  main  point  of  agreement  between  the 
scientific  and  the  religious  definition  is  that 
Life  consists  in  a  peculiar  and  personal  relation 
defined  as  a  "correspondence."  This  concep- 
tion, that  Life  consists  in  correspondences,  has 
been  so  abundantly  illustrated  already  that  it 
is  now  unnecessary  to  discuss  it  further.  All 
Life  indeed  consists  essentially  in  correspond- 
ences with  various  Environments.  The  artist's 
life  is  a  correspondence  with  art ;  the  musi- 
cian's with  music.  To  cut  them  off  from  these 
Environments  is  in  that  relation  to  cut  off 
their  Life.  To  be  cut  off  from  all  Environ- 
ment is  death.  To  find  a  new  Environment 
again  and  cultivate  relation  with  it  is  to  find 
a  new  Life.  To  Live  is  to  correspond,  and  to 
correspond  is  to  live.  So  much  is  true  in 
Science.  But  it  is  also  true  in  Religion.  And 
it  is  of  great  importance  to  observe  that  to 
Religion  also  the  conception  of  Life  is  a  corre- 
spondence. No  truth  of  Christianity  has  been 
more  ignorantly  or  wilfully  travestied  than  the 
doctrine  of  ImmortaL  y.  The  popular  idea,  in 
spite  of  a  hundred  protests,  is  that  Eternal  Life 
is  to  live  forever.  A  single  glance  at  the  locus 
classicits,  might  have  made  this  error  impossible 
There  we  are  told  that  Life  Eternal  is  not  to 
live.  This  is  Life  Eternal — to  know.  And  yet 
— and  it  is  a  notorious  instance  of  the  fact  that 
men  \rho  are  opposed  to  Religion  will  take  their 
conception  of  its  profoundest  truths  from  mere 
vulgar  perversions — this  view  still  represents 
to  many  cultivated  men  the  Scriptural  doctrine 
of  Eternal  Life.  From  time  to  time  the  taunt 


ETERNAL  LIFE.  217 

is  thrown  at  Religion,  not  unseldom  from  lips 
which  Science  ought  to  have  taught  more  cau- 
tion, that  the  Future  Life  of  Christianity  is 
simply  a  prolonged,  existence,  an  eternal  mo- 
notony, a  blind  and  indefinite  continuance  of 
being.  The  Bible  never  could  commit  itself  to 
any  such  empty  platitude ;  nor  could  Chris- 
tianity ever  offer  to  the  world  a  hope  so  color- 
less. Not  that  Eternal  Life  has  nothing  to  do 
with  everlastingness.  That  is  part  of  the  con- 
ception. And  it  is  this  aspect  of  the  question 
that  first  arrests  us  in  the  field  of  Science. 
But  even  Science  has  more  in  its  definition 
than  longevity.  It  has  a  correspondence  and 
an  Environment ;  and  although  it  cannot  fill  up 
these  terms  for  Religion,  it  can  indicate  at 
least  the  nature  of  the  relation,  the  kind  of 
thing  that  is  meant  by  Life.  Science  speaks 
to  us  indeed  of  much  more  than  numbers  of 
years.  It  defines  degrees  of  Life.  It  explains 
a  widening  Environment.  It  unfolds  the  re- 
lation between  a  widening  Environment  and 
increasing  complexity  in  organisms.  And  if 
it  has  no  absolute  contribution  to  the  content  of 
Religion  its  analogies  are  not  limited  to  a 
point.  It  yields  to  Immortality,  and  this  is  the 
most  that  Science  can  do  in  any  case,  the 
broad  framework  for  a  doctrine. 

The  further  definition,  moreover,  of  this 
correspondence  as  knowing  is  in  the  highest 
degree  significant.  Is  not  this  the  precise 
quality  in  an  Eternal  correspondence  which  the 
analogies  of  Science  would  prepare  us  to  look 


£18  ETERNAL  LIFE. 

for?  Longevity  is  associated  with  complexity. 
And  complexity  in  organisms  is  manifested  by 
the  successive  addition  of  correspondences, 
each  richer  and  larger  than  those  which  have 
gone  before.  The  differentiation,  therefore,  of 
the  spiritual  organism  ought  to  be  signalized 
by  the  addition  of  the  highest  possible  corre- 
spondence. It  is  not  essential  to  the  idea  that 
the  correspondence  should  be  altogether  novel ; 
it  is  necessary  rather  that  it  should  not.  An 
altogether  new  correspondence  appearing  sud- 
denly without  shadow  or  prophecy  would  be 
a  violation  of  continuity.  What  we  should 
expect  would  be  something  new,  and  yet 
something  that  we  were  already  prepared  for. 
We  should  look  for  a  further  development  in 
harmony  with  current  developments ;  the 
extension  of  the  last  and  highest  correspond- 
ence in  a  new  and  higher  direction.  And 
this  is  exactly  what  we  have.  In  the  world 
with  which  biology  deals,  Evolution  culminates- 
in  Knowledge. 

At  whatever  point  in  the  zoological  scale 
this  correspondence,  or  set  of  correspondences,, 
begins,  it  is  certain  there  is  nothing  higher. 
In  its  stunted  infancy  merely,  when  we  meet 
with  its  rudest  beginnings  in  animal  intelli- 
gence, it  is  a  thing  so  wonderful,  as  to  strike 
every  thoughtful  and  reverent  observer  with 
awe.  Even  among  the  invertebrates  so  mar- 
vellously are  these  or  kindred  powers  dis- 
played, that  naturalists  do  not  hesitate  now, 
on  the  ground  of  intelligence  at  least,  to  clas- 


ETERNAL  LIFE.  219 

some  of  the  humblest  creatures  next 
to  man  himself. *  Nothing  in  nature,  indeed, 
is  so  unlike  the  rest  of  nature,  so  prophetic  of 
what  is  beyond  it,  so  supernatural.  And  as 
manifested  in  Man  who  crowns  creation  with 
his  all-embracing  consciousness,  there  is  but 
one  word  to  describe  his  knowledge :  it  is  Di- 
vine. If  then  from  this  point  there  is  to  be 
any  further  Evolution,  this  surely  must  be  the 
correspondence  in  which  it  shall  take  place  ? 
This  correspondence  is  great  enough  to  de- 
mand development ;  and  yet  it  is  little  enough 
to  need  it.  The  magnificence  of  what  it  has 
achieved  relatively,  is  the  pledge  of  the  possi- 
bility of  more ;  the  insignificance  of  its  con- 
quest absolutely  involves  the  probability  of 
still  richer  triumphs.  If  anything,  in  short,  in 
humanity  is  to  go  on  it  must  be  this.  Other 
correspondences  may  continue  likewise ;  others, 
again,  we  can  well  afford  to  leave  behind. 
But  this  cannot  cease/  This  correspondence 
— or  this  set  of  correspondences,  for  it  is  very 
complex — is  it  not  that  to  which  men  with  one 
consent  would  attach  Eternal  Life  ?  Is  there 
anything  else  to  which  they  would  attach  it? 
Is  anything  better  conceivable,  anything 
worthier,  fuller,  nobler,  anything  which  would 
represent  a  higher  iorin  of  Evolution  or  offer  a 
more  perfect  ideal  for  an  Eternal  Life  ? 

But  these  are  questions  of  quality ;  and  the 
moment  we  pass  from  quantity  to  quality  we 
leave  Science  behind.  In  the  vocabulary  of 

1  Vide  Sir  John  Lubbock's  "  Ants,  Bees,  and  Wasps." 
pp.  1-181. 


220  STERNAL  LIFE. 

Science,  Eternity  is  only  the  fraction  of  a 
word.  It  means  mere  everlastingness.  To 
Religion,  on  the  other  hand,  Eternity  has  little 
to  do  with  time.  To  correspond  with  the  God 
of  Science,  the  Eternal  Unknowable,  would  be 
everlasting  existence ;  to  correspond  with  "  the 
true  God  and  Jesus  Christ,"  is  Eternal  Life. 
The  quality  of  the  Eternal  Life  alone  makes 
the  heaven ;  mere  everlastingness  might  be  no 
boon.  Even  the  brief  span  of  the  temporal 
life  is  too  long  for  those  who  spend  its  years 
in  sorrow.  Time  itself,  let  alone  Eterni  'y.  is 
all  but  excruciating  to  Doubt.  And  many  be- 
sides Schopenhauer  have  secretly  regarded 
consciousness  as  the  hideous  mistake  and  mal- 
ady of  Nature.  Therefore  we  must  not  only 
have  quantity  of  years,  to  speak  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  present,  but  quality  of  corre- 
spondence. "When  we  leave  Science  b  hind, 
this  orrespondence  also  receives  a  higher 
name.  It  becomes  communion.  Other  names 
there  are  for  it,  religious  and  theological.  It 
may  be  included  in  a  general  expression,  Faith ; 
or  we  may  call  it  by  a  personal  and  specific 
term,  Love.  For  the  knowing  of  a  Whole  so 
great  involves  the  co-operation  of  many  parts. 
Communion  with  God — can  it  be  demon- 
strated in  terms  of  Science  that  this  is  a 
correspondence  which  will  never  break  ?  "We 
do  not  appeal  to  Science  for  such  a  testimony. 
We  have  asked  for  its  conception  of  an  Eternal 
~ife;  and  we  ha  re  received  for  answer  that 
Jterral  Life  would  consist  in  a  correspondence 
which  should  never  cease,  with  an  Environ- 


STERNAL  LIFE.  221 

ment  which  should  never  pass  away.  And  yet 
what  would  Science  demand  of  a  perfect  corre- 
spondence that  is  not  met  by  this,  the  knowing  of 
God?  There  is  no  other  correspondence  which 
could  satisfy  one  at  least  of  the  conditions. 
Not  one  could  be  named  which  would  not  bear 
on  the  face  of  it  the  mark  and  pledge  of  its 
mortality.  But  this,  to  know  God,  stands  alone. 
To  know  God,  to  be  linked  with  God,  to  be 
linked  with  Eternity — if  this  is  not  the 
<c  eternal  existence  "  of  biology  what  can  more 
nearly  approach  it  ?  And  yet  we  are  still  a 
great  way  off — to  establish  a  communication 
with  the  Eternal  is  not  to  secure  Eternal  Life. 
It  must  be  assumed  that  the  communication 
could  be  sustained.  And  to  assume  this  would 
be  t  beg1  the  question.  So  that  we  have  still 
to  prove  Eternal  Life.  But  let  it  be  again 
repeate ',  we  are  not  here  seeking  proofs.  We 
are  seeking  light.  We  are  merely  reconnoi- 
tring from  the  furthest  promontory  of  Science  if 
so  be  that  through  the  haze  we  may  discern 
the  outline  of  a  distant  coast  and  come  to  some 
conclusion  as  to  the  possibility  of  landing. 

But,  it  may  be  replied,  it  is  not  open  to  any 
one  handling  the  question  of  Immortality  from 
the  side  of  So'ence  to  remain  neutral  as  to  the 
qu  stion  of  fact.  It  s  not  enough  to  announce 
that  h  has  no  addition  to  ma"  e  to  the  positive 
argument.  This  may  be  permitted  with  ref- 
erence to  other  points  •  f  ontact  between 
Science  and  Religion,  but  lot  with  this.  We 
are  told  this  question  is  setMert — that  there 
is  no  positive  side.  Science  meets  the  entire 


222  ETERNAL  LIFE. 

conception  of  immortality  with  a  direct 
negative.  In  the  face  of  a  powerful  concensus 
against  even  the  possibility  of  a  Future  Life, 
to  content  oneself  with  saying  that  Science 
pretended  to  no  argument  in  favor  of  it  would 
be  at  once  impertinent  and  dishonest.  We 
must  therefore  devote  ourselves  for  a  moment 
to  the  question  of  possibility. 

The  problem  is,  with  a  material  body  and  a 
mental  organization  inseparably  connected 
with  it,  to  bridge  the  grave.  Emotion,  volition, 
thought  itself,  are  functions  of  the  brain. 
When  the  brain  is  impaired,  they  are  impaired. 
When  the  brain  is  not,  they  are  not.  Every- 
thing ceases  with  the  dissolution  of  the  material 
fabric  ;  muscular  activity  and  mental  activity 
perish  alike.  With  the  pronounced  positive 
statements  on  this  point  from  many  depart- 
ments of  modern  Science  we  are  all  familiar. 
The  fatal  verdict  is  recorded  by  a  hundred 
hands  and  with  scarcely  a  shadow  of  qualifi- 
cation. "  Unprejudiced  philosophy  is  com- 
pelled to  reject  the  idea  of  an  individual  im- 
mortality and  of  a  personal  continuance  after 
death.  With  the  decay  and  dissolution  of  its 
material  substratum,  through  which  alone  it 
has  acquired  a  conscious  existence  and  become 
a  person,  and  upon  which  it  was  dependent, 
the  spirit  must  cease  to  exist."  *  To  the  same 
effect  Vogt :  "  Physiology  decides  definitely 
and  categorically  against  individual  immor- 
tality, as  against  any  special  existence  of  the 

»  Biicliner  :  "  Force  and  Matter,"  3d  Ed.  p.  232. 


ETERNAL  LIFE.  223 

«oul.  The  soul  does  not  enter  the  foetus  like 
the  evil  spirit  into  persons  possessed,  but  is  a 
product  of  the  development  of  the  brr-in,  just 
as  muscular  activity  is  a  product  of  muscular 
development,  and  secretion  a  product  of  gland- 
ular development."  After  a  careful  review  >t 
the  position  of  recent  Science  with  regard  to  the 
whole  doctrine,  Mr.  Graham  sums  up  thus  : 
"  Such  is  the  argument  of  Science,  seemingly  de- 
cisive against  a  future  life.  As  we  listen  to  her 
array  of  syllogisms,  our  hearts  die  within  us. 
The  hopes  of  men,  placed  in  one  scale  to  be 
weighed,  seem  to  fly  up  against  the  massive 
weight  of  her  evidence,  placed  in  the  other. 
It  seems  as  if  all  our  arguments  were  vain  and 
unsubstantial,  as  if  our  future  expectations 
were  the  foolish  dreams  of  children,  as  if  there 
could  not  be  any  other  possible  verdict  arrived 
at  upon  the  evidence  brought  forward."  l 

Can  we  go  on  in  the  teeth  of  so  real  an 
obstruction  ?  Has  not  our  own  weapon  turned 
against  us,  Science  abolishing  with  authorita- 
tive hand  the  very  truth  we  are  asking  it  to 
define  ? 

What  the  philosopher  has  to  throw  into  the 
other  scale  can  be  easily  indicated.  Generally 
speaking,  he  demurs  to  the  dogmatism  of  the 
conclusion.  That  mind  and  brain  react,  that 
the  mental  and  the  physiological  processes  are 
related,  and  very  intimately  related,  is  beyond 
controversy.  But  how  they  are  related,  he 
submits,  is  still  altogether  unknown.  The 

1  "  The  Creed  of  Science,"  p.  169. 


224  ETERNAL  LIFE. 

correlation  of  mind  and  brain  do  not  involve 
their  identity.  And  not  a  few  authorities 
accordingly  have  consistently  hesitated  to  draw 
any  conclusion  at  all.  Even  Buchner's  state- 
ment turns  out,  on  close  examination,  to  be  ten- 
tative in  the  extrem  In  prefacing  his  chapter 
on  Personal  Continuance,  after  a  single  sen- 
tence on  the  dependence  of  the  soul  and  its 
manifestations  upon  a  material  substratum,  he 
remarks,  "  Though  we  are  unable  to  form  a 
definite  idea  as  to  the  how  of  this  connection, 
we  are  still  by  these  facts  justified  in  asserting, 
that  the  mode  of  this  connection  renders  it  ap- 
parently impossible  that  they  should  continue  to 
exist  separately."  1  There  is,  therefore,  a  flaw 
at  this  point  in  the  argument  for  materialism. 
It  may  not  help  the  spiritualist  in  the  least  de- 
gree positively.  He  may  be  as  far  as  ever  from 
a  theory  of  how  consciousness  could  continue 
without  the  material  tissue.  But  his  contention 
secures  for  him  the  right  of  speculation.  The 
path  beyond  may  lie  in  hopeless  gloom  ;  but  it 
is  not  barred.  He  may  bring  forward  his 
theory  if  he  will.  And  this  is  something.  For 
a  permission  to  go  on  is  often  the  most  that 
Science  can  grant  to  Religion. 

Men  have  taken  advantage  of  this  loophole 
in  various  ways.  And  though  it  cannot  be 
said  that  these  speculations  offer  us  more  than 
a  probability,  this  is  still  enough  to  combine 
with  the  deep-seated  expectation  in  the  bosom 
of  mankind  and  give  fresh  lustre  to  the  hope 
of  a  future  life.  Whether  we  find  relief  in  the 

1  "  Force  and  Matter,"  p.  231. 


ETERNAL  LIFE.  225 

theory  of  a  simple  dualism;  whether  with 
Ulrici  we  further  define  the  soul  as  an  invisible 
enswathement  of  the  body,  material  yet  non- 
atomic  ;  whether,  with  the  "  Unseen  Universe." 
we  are  helped  by  the  spectacle  of  known  forms 
of  matter  shading  off  into  an  ever-growing 
subtilty,  mobility,  and  immateriality ;  or 
whether,  with  Wundt,  we  regard  the  soul  as 
"  the  ordered  unity  of  many  elements,"  it  is, 
certain  that  shapes  can  be  given  to  the  con- 
ception of  a  correspondence  which  shall  bridge 
the  grave  such  as  to  satisfy  minds  too  much 
accustomed  to  weigh  evidence  to  put  them- 
selves off  with  fancies. 

But  whether  the  possibilities  of  physiology 
or  the  theories  of  philosophy  do  or  do  not  sub- 
stantially assist  us  in  realizing  Immortality, 
is  to  Religion,  to  Religion  at  least  regarded 
from  the  present  point  of  view,  of  inferior 
moment.  The  fact  of  Immortality  rests  for  us 
on  a  different  basis.  Probably,  indeed,  after 
all  the  Christian  philosopher  never  engaged 
himself  in  a  more  superfluous  task  than  in 
seeking  along  physiological  lines  to  find  room 
for  a  soul.  The  theory  of  Christianity  has. 
only  to  be  fairly  stated  to  make  manifest  its 
thorough  independence  of  all  the  usual  specu- 
lations on  Immortality.  The  theory  is  not 
that  thought,  volition,  or  emotion,  as  such  are 
to  survive  the  grave.  The  difficulty  of  hold- 
ing a  doctrine  in  this  form,  in  spite  of  what 
has  been  advanced  to  the  contrary,  in  spite  of 
the  hopes  and  wishes  of  mankind,  in  spite  of 
all  the  scientific  and  philosophical  attempts  to 
15 


226  ETERNAL  LIFE. 

make  it  tenable,  is  still  profound.  No  secular 
theory  of  personal  continuance,  as  even  Butler 
acknowledged,  does  not  equally  demand  the 
eternity  of  the  brute.  Xo  secular  the  r_y  de- 
fines the  point  in  the  chain  of  Evolution  at 
which  organisms  became  endowed  with  Im- 
mortality. No  secular  theory  explains  the 
condition  of  the  endowment,  nor  indicates  its 
goal.  And  if  we  have  nothing  more  to  fan 
hope  than  the  unexplored  mystery  of  the  whole 
region,  or  the  unknown  remainders  among 
the  potencies  of  Life,  then,  as  those  who  have 
"  hope  only  in  this  world,"  we  are  "  of  all  men 
the  most  miserable." 

When  we  turn,  on  the  other  hand,  to  the 
doctrine  as  it  came  from  the  lips  of  Christ,  we 
find  ourselves  in  an  entirely  different  region. 
He  makes  no  attempt  to  project  the  material 
into  the  immaterial.  The  old  elements,  how- 
ever refined  and  subtile  as  to  their  matter,  are 
not  in  themselves  to  inherit  the  Kingdom  of 
God.  That  which  is  flesh  is  flesh.  Instead  of 
attaching  Immortality  to  the  natural  organism, 
He  introduces  a  new  and  original  factor  which 
none  of  the  secular,  and  few  even  of  the  theo- 
logical theories,  seem  to  take  sufficiently  into 
account.  To  Christianity,  "  he  that  hath  the 
Son  of  God  hath  Life,  and  he  that  hath  not  the 
Son  hath  not  Life."  This,  as  we  take  it,  de- 
fines the  correspondence  which  is  to  bridge  the 
grave.  This  is  the  clue  to  the  nature  of  the 
Life  that  lies  at  the  back  of  the  spiritual 
•organism.  And  this  is  the  true  solution  of 
the  mystery  of  Eternal  Life. 


ETERNAL  LIFE.  227 

There  lies  a  something  at  the  back  of  the 
correspondences  of  the  spiritual  organisms — 
just  as  there  lies  a  something  at  the  back  of 
the  natural  correspondences.  To  say  that  Life 
is  a  correspondence  is  only  to  express  the  par- 
tial truth.  There  is  something  behind.  Life 
manifests  itself  in  correspondences.  But  what 
determines  them?  The  organism  exhibits  a 
variety  of  correspondences.  What  organizes 
them  ?  As  in  the  natural,  so  in  the  spiritual^ 
there  is  a  Principle  of  Life.  We  cannot  get 
rid  of  that  term.  However  clumsy,  however 
provisional,  however  much  a  mere  cloak  for 
ignorance,  Science  as  yet  is  unable  to  dispense 
with  the  idea  of  a  Principle  of  Life.  We 
must  work  with  the  word  till  we  get  a  better. 
Xow  that  which  determines  the  correspondence 
of  the  spiritual  organism  is  a  Principle  of 
Spiritual  Life.  It  is  a  new  and  Divine  Posses- 
sion. He  that  hath  the  Son  hath  Life;  con- 
versely, he  that  hath  Life  hath  the  Son.  And 
this  indicates  at  once  the  quality  and  the 
quantity  of  the  correspondence  which  is  to- 
bridge  the  grave.  He  that  hath  Life  hath  the 
Son.  He  possesses  the  Spirit  of  a  son.  That 
spirit  is,  so  to  speak,  organized  within  him  by 
the  Son.  It  is  the  manifestation  of  the  new 
nature — of  which  more  anon.  The  fact  to- 
note  at  present  is  that  this  is  not  an  organic 
correspondence,  but  a  spiritual  correspondence. 
It  comes  not  from  generation,  but  from  re- 
generation. The  relation  between  the  spirit- 
ual man  and  his  Environment  is  in  theological 
language,  a  filial  relation.  With  the 


228  ETERNAL  LIFE. 

"Spirit,  the  filial  correspondence,  be  knows  the 
Father — and  this  is  Life  Eternal.  This  is  not 
only  the  real  relation,  but  the  only  possible 
relation:  "Neither  knoweth  any  man  tbe 
Father  save  the  Son,  and  he  to  whomsoever 
the  Son  will  reveal  Him."  And  this  on  purely 
natural  grounds.  It  takes  the  Divine  to  know 
the  Divine — but  in  no  more  mysterious  sense 
than  it  takes  the  human  to  understand  the 
human.  The  analogy,  indeed,  for  the  "whole 
field  here  has  been  finely  expressed  already  by 
Paul:  "What  man,"  he  asks,  "knoweth  th: 
things  of  a  man,  save  the  spirit  of  man  which 
is  in  him  ?  even  so  the  things  of  God  knoweth 
no  man,  but  the  Spirit  of  God.  Now  we  have 
received,  not  the  spirit  of  the  world,  but  the 
Spirit  which  is  of  God ;  that  we  might  know 
the  things  that  are  freely  given  to  us  of  God."  * 
It  were  idle,  such  being  the  quality  of  the 
new  relation,  to  add  that  this  also  contains 
th«  guarantee  of  its  eternity.  Here  at  last  is 
a  correspondence  which  will  never  cease.  Its 
powers  in  bridging  the  grave  have  been  tried. 
The  correspondence  of  +he  spiritual  man  pos- 
sesses th'  supernatural  virtues  of  the  Resurrec- 
tion and  the  Life.  It  is  known  by  former  ex- 
periment to  have  survived  the  "changes  in 
the  physical  state  of  the  environment,"  and 
those  "  mechanical  actions  "  and  "  variations  of 
available  food,"  which  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer 
tells  us  are  "  liable  to  stop  the  processes  going 
on  in  the  organism."  In  short,  this  is  a  cor- 
respondence wh;ch  at  once  satisfies  the  de- 

1 1  Cor.  ii.  11, 12. 


ETERNAL  LIFE. 

mands  of  Science  and  Religion.  In  mere 
quantity  it  is  different  from  every  other  cor- 
respondence known.  Setting  aside  everything 
else  in  Religion,  everything  adventitious,  local 
and  provisional ;  dissecting  in  to  the  bone  and 
marrow  we  find  this — a  correspondence  which 
can  never  break  with  an  Environment  which 
can  never  change.  Here  is  a  relation  estab- 
lished with  Eternity.  The  passing  years  lay 
no  limiting  hand  on  it.  Corruption  injures 
it  not.  It  survives  Death.  It,  and  it  only, 
will  stretch  beyond  the  grave  and  be  found 
inviolate — 

"  When  the  moon  is  old, 
And  the  stars  are  cold, 
And  the  books  of  the  Judgment-day  unfold." 

The  misgiving  which  will  creep  sometimes- 
over  the  brightest  faith  has  already  received 
its  expression  and  its  rebuke :  "  Who  shall 
separate  us  from  the  love  of  Christ?  Shall 
tribulation,  or  distress,  or  persecution,  or 
famine,  or  nakedness,  or  peril,  or  sword?" 
Shall  these  "  changes  in  the  physical  state  of 
the  environment"  which  threaten  death  to  the 
natural  man  destroy  ,he  spiritual  ?  Shall 
death,  or  life,  or  angels,  or  principalities,  or 
powers,  arrest  or  tamper  with  his  eternal  cor- 
respondences ?  "  Nay,  in  all  these  things  we 
are  more  than  conquerors  through  Him  that 
loved  us.  For  I  am  persuaded  that  neither 
death,  nor  life,  nor  angels,  nor  principalities, 
nor  powers,  nor  things  present,  nor  things  to 
come,  nor  height,  nor  depth,  nor  any  other 
creature,  shall  be  able  to  separate  us  from  the 


,230  ETERNAL  LIFE. 

love  of  God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our 
Lord." 

It  may  seem  an  objection  to  some  that  the 
«' perfect  correspondence"  should  come  to  man 
in  so  extraordinary  a  way.  The  earlier  stages 
in  the  doctrine  are  promising  enough ;  they 
are  entirely  in  line  with  Nature.'  And  if 
Nature  has  also  furnished  the  "  perfect  corre- 
spondence "  demanded  for  an  Eternal  Life  the 
position  might  be  unassailable.  But  this  sud- 
den reference  to  a  something  outside  the 
natural  Environment  destroys  the  continuity, 
^ind  discovers  a  permanent  weakness  in  the 
whole  theory  ?  To  which  there  is  a  twofold 
reply.  In  the  first  place,  to  go  outside  what 
we  call  Nature  is  not  to  go  outside  Environ- 
ment. Nature,  the  natural  Environment,  is 
only  a  part  of  Environment.  There  is  another 
large  part  which,  though  some  profess  to  have 
no  correspondence  with  it,  is  not  on  that  ac- 
count unreal,  or  even  unnatural.  The  mental 
and  moral  wor'd  is  unknown  to  the  plant.  But 
it  is  real.  It  cannot  be  affirmed  either  that  it 
is  unnatural  to  the  plant;  although  it  might 
be  said  that  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
Vegetable  Kingdom  it  was  supernatural. 
Things  are  natural  or  supernatural  simply  ac- 
cording to  where  one  stands.  Man  is  super- 
natural to  the  mineral ;  God  is  supernatural 
to  the  man.  When  a  mineral  is  seized  upon 
by  the  living  plant  and  elevated  to  the  organic 
kingdom,  no  trespass  against  Nature  is  com- 
mitted. It  merely  enters  a  larger  Environ- 

»  Rom.  viii.  35-S9. 


ETERNAL  LIFE.  231 

ment,  which  before  was  supernatural  to  itr 
but  which  now  is  entirely  natural.  When  the- 
heart  of  a  man,  again,  is  seized  upon  by  the 
quickening  Spirit  of  God,  no  further  violence 
is  done  to  natural  law.  It  is  another  case  of 
the  inorganic,  so  to  speak,  passing  into  the- 
organic. 

But,  in  the  second  place,  it  is  complained  as 
if  it  were  an  enormity  in  itself  that  the  spir- 
itual correspondence  should  be  furnished  from 
the  spiritual  world.  And  to  this  the  answer 
lies  in  the  same  direction.  Correspondence  in 
any  case  is  the  gift  of  Environment.  The 
natural  Environment  gives  men  their  natural 
faculties;  the  spiritual  affords  them  their 
spiritual  faculties.  It  is  natural  for  the  spirit- 
ual Environment  to  supply  the  spiritual  facul- 
ties ;  it  would  be  quite  unnatural  for  the  nat- 
ural Environment  to  do  it.  The  natural  law 
of  Biogenesis  forbids  it;  the  moral  fact  that 
the  finite  cannot  comprehend  the  Infinite  is- 
against  it ;  the  spiritual  principle  that  flesh 
and  blood  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God 
renders  it  absurd.  Not,  however,  that  the 
spiritual  faculties  are,  as  it  were,  manufact- 
ured in  the  spiritual  world  and  supplied  ready- 
made  to  the  spiritr  1  organism — -forced  upon, 
it  as  an  external  equipment.  This  certainly 
is  not  involved  in  saying  that  the  spiritual 
faculties  are  furnished  by  the  spiritual 
world.  Organisms  are  not  added  to  by  accre- 
tion, as  in  the  case  of  minerals,  but  by  growth. 
And  the  spiritual  faculties  are  organized  in  the 
spiritual  protoplasm  of  the  soul,  just  as  other 


232  ETERNAL  LIFE. 

faculties  are  organized  in  the  protoplasm  of 
the  body.  The  plant  is  made  of  materials 
which  have  once  been  inorganic.  An  organiz- 
ing principle  not  belonging  to  their  kingdom 
lays  hold  of  them  and  elaborates  them  until 
they  have  correspondences  with  the  kingdom 
to  which  the  organizing  principle  belonged. 
Their  original  organizing  principle,  if  it  can  be 
called  by  this  name,  was  Crystallization;  so 
that  we  have  now  a  distinctly  foreign  power 
organizing  in  totally  new  and  higher  directions. 
In  the  spiritual  world,  similarly,  we  find  an 
organizing  principle  at  work  among  the  mate- 
rials of  the  organic  kingdom,  performing  a  fur- 
ther miracle,  but  not  a  different  kind  of  mir- 
acle, producing  organizations  of  a  novel  kind, 
but  not  by  a  novel  method.  The  second  pro- 
cess, in  fact,  is  simply  what  an  enlightened 
evolutionist  would  have  expected  from  the 
first.  It  marks  the  natural  and  legitimate 
progress  of  the  development.  And  this  in  the 
line  of  the  true  Evolution — not  the  linear 
Evolution,  which  would  look  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  natural  man  through  powers  al- 
readj7  inherent,  as  if  one  were  to  look  to  Crys- 
tallization to  accomplish  the  development  of 
the  mineral  into  the  plant, — but  that  larger 
form  of  Evolution  which  includes  among  its 
factors  the  double  Law  of  Biogenesis  and  the 
immense  further  truth  that  this  involves. 

What  is  further  included  in  this  complex 
correspondence  we  shall  have  opportunity  to 
illustrate  afterwards."1  Meantime  let  it  ba 

1  Vide  "  Conformity  to  Type,  "  page  279. 


ETERNAL  LIFE.  233 

noted  on  what  the  Christian  argument  for  Im- 
mortality really  rests.  It  stands  upon  the 
pedestal  on  which  the  theologian  rests  the 
whole  of  historical  Christianity — the  Resurrec- 
tion of  Jesus  Christ. 

It  ought  to  be  placed  in  the  forefront  of  all 
Christian  teaching  that  Christ's  mission  on 
earth  was  to  give  men  Life.  "  I  am  come,"  He 
said.  "  that  ye  might  have  Life,  and  that  ye 
might  have  it  more  abundantly."  And  that 
He  meant  literal  Life,  literal  spiritual  and 
Eternal  Life,  is  clear  from  the  whole  course  of 
His  teaching  and  acting.  To  impose  a  meta- 
phorical meaning  on  the  commonest  word  of 
the  New  Testament  is  to  violate  every  canon 
of  interpretation,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
charge  the  greatest  of  teachers  with  persist- 
ently mystifying  His  hearers  by  an  unusual 
use  of  so  exact  a  vehicle  for  expressing  definite 
thought  as  the  Greek  language,  and  that  on 
the  most  momentous  subject  of  which  He  ever 
spoke  to  men.  It  is  a  canon  of  interpreta- 
tion, according  to  Alford,  that  "a  figurative 
sense  of  words  is  never  admissible  except 
when  required  by  the  context."  The  context, 
in  most  cases,  is  not  only  directly  unfavorable 
to  a  figurative  meaning,  but  in  innumerable 
instances  in  Christ's  teaching  Life  is  broadly 
contrasted  with  Death.  In  the  teaching  of 
the  apostles,  again,  we  find  that,  without  excep- 
tion, they  accepted  the  term  in  its  simple  literal 
sense.  Reuss  defines  the  apostolic  belief  with 
his  usual  impartiality  when — and  the  quota- 
tion is  doubly  pertinent  here — he  discovers  in 


234  ETERNAL  LIFE. 

the  apostle's  conception  of  Life,  first,  "the  idea 
of  a  real  existence,  an  existence  such  as  is 
proper  to  God  and  to  the  Word ;  an  imperish- 
able existence— that  is  to  say,  not  subject  to 
the  vicissitudes  and  imperfections  of  the  finite 
world.  This  primary  idea  is  repeatedly  ex- 
pressed, at  least  in  a  negative  form ;  it  leads 
to  a  doctrine  of  immortality,  or,  to  speak  more 
correctly,  of  life,  far  surpassing  any  that  had 
been  expressed  in  the  formulas  of  the  current 
philosophy  or  theology,  and  resting  upon  pre- 
mises and  conceptions  altogether  different. 
In  fact,  it  can  dispense  both  with  the  philoso- 
phical thesis  of  the  immateriality  or  indestruc- 
tibility of  the  human  soul,  and  with  the  theo- 
logical thesis  of  a  miraculous  corporeal  recon- 
struction of  our  person ;  thesis,  the  first  of 
which  is  altogether  foreign  to  the  religion  of 
the  Bible,  and  the  second  absolutely  opposed 
to  reason."  Second,  "  the  idea  of  life,  as  it  is 
conceived  in  this  system,  implies  the  idea  of  a 
power,  an  operation,  a  communication,  since 
this  life  no  longer  remains,  so  to  speak,  latent 
or  passive  in  God  and  in  the  Word,  but 
through  them  reaches  the  believer.  It  is  not 
a  mental  somnolent  thing;  it  is  not  a  plant 
without  fruit ;  it  is  a  germ  which  is  to  find 
fullest  development." l 

If  we  are  asked  to  define  more  clearly  what 
is  meant  by  this  mysterious  endowment  of 
Life,  we  again  hand  over  the  difficulty  ta 
Science.  When  Science  can  define  the  Xatural 

1  "  History  of  Christian  Theology  in  the  Apostolur 
Age,"  vol.  ii.  p.  496. 


ETERNAL  LIFE.  235 

Life  and  the  Physical  Force  we  may  hope  for 
further  clearness  on  the  nature  and  action  of 
the  Spiritual  Powers.  The  effort  to  detect  the 
living  Spirit  must  be  at  least  as  idle  as  the  at- 
tempt to  subject  protoplasm  to  microscopic 
examination  in  the  hope  of  discovering  Life. 
We  are  warned,  also,  not  to  expect  too  much. 
"Thou  canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh  or 
whither  it  goeth."  This  being  its  quality, 
when  the  Spiritual  Life  is  discovered  in  tha 
laboratory  it  will  possibly  be  time  to  give  it 
up  altogether.  It  may  say,  as  Socrates  of  his 
soul,  "You  may  bury  me — if  you  can  catch 
me." 

Science  never  corroborates  a  spiritual  truth 
without  illuminating  it.  The  threshold  of 
Eternity  is  a  place  where  many  shadows  meet. 
And  the  light  of  Science  here,  where  every- 
thing is  so  dark,  is  welcome  a  thousand  times. 
Many  men  would  be  religious  if  they  knew 
where  to  begin ;  many  would  be  more  religious 
if  they  were  sure  where  it  would  end.  It  is 
not  indifference  that  keeps  some  men  from 
God,  but  ignorance.  "  Good  Master,  what 
must  I  do  to  inherit  Eternal  Life?"  is  still 
the  deepest  question  of  the  age.  What  is 
Religion  ?  What  am  I  to  believe  ?  What  seek 
with  all  my  heart  and  soul  and  mind  ? — this  is 
the  imperious  question  sent  up  to  conscious- 
ness from  the  depths  of  being  in  all  earnest 
hours ;  sent  down  again,  alas,  with  many  of 
us,  time  after  time,  unanswered.  Into  all  our 
thought  and  work  and  reading  this  question 
pursues  us.  But  the  theories  are  rejected  one 


236  ETERNAL  LIFE. 

by  one  ;  the  great  books  are  returned  sadly  to 
their  shelves,  the  years  pass,  and  the  problem 
remains  unsolved.  The  confusion  of  tongues 
here  is  terrible.  Every  day  a  new  author- 
ity announces  himself.  Poets,  philosophers, 
preachers  try  their  hand  on  us  in  turn.  New 
prophets  arise,  and  beseech  us  for  our  soul's 
sake  to  give  ear  to  them — at  last  in  an  hour  of 
inspiration  they  have  discovered  the  final  truth. 
Yet  the  doctrine  of  yesterday  is  challenged  by 
a  fresh  philosophy  to-day  ;  and  the  creed  of  to- 
day will  fall  in  turn  before  the  criticism  of  to- 
morrow. Increase  of  knowledge  increaseth 
sorrow.  And  at  length  the  conflicting  truths, 
lil:j  the  beams  of  light  in  the  laboratory  ex- 
periment, combine  in  the  mind  to  make  total 
darkness. 

But  here  are  two  outstanding  authorities 
agreed — not  men,  not  philosophers,  not  creeds> 
Here  is  the  voice  of  God  and  the  voice  of 
Nature.  I  cannot  be  wrong  if  I  listen  to  them. 
Sometimes  when  uncertain  of  a  voice  from  its 
very  loudness,  we  catch  the  missing  syllable 
in  the  echo.  In  God  and  Nature  we  have 
Voice  and  Echo.  When  I  hear  both,  I  am 
assured.  My  sense  '  hearing  does  not  betray 
me  twice.  I  recognize  the  Voice  in  the  Echo, 
the  Echo  makes  me  certain  of  the  Voice ;  I 
listen  and  I  know.  The  question  of  a  Future 
Life  is  a  biological  question.  Nature  may  be 
silent  on  other  problems  of  Religion;  but  here 
she  has  a  right  to  speak.  The  whole  confusion 
around  the  doctrine  of  Eternal  Life  has  arisen 
from  making  it  a  question  of  Philosophy.  We 


ETERNAL  LIFE,  '.  37 

li  do  ill  to  refuse  a  hearing  to  any  specula- 
tion  of  Philosophy ;  the  ethical  relations  here 
especially  are  intimate  and  real.  But  in  the 
first  instance  Eternal  Life,  as  a  question  of 
Life,  is  a  problem  for  Biology.  The  soul  is  a 
living  organism.  And  for  any  question  as  to 
the  soul's  Life  we  must  appeal  to  Life-science. 
And  what  does  the  Life-science  teach  ?  That 
if  I  am  to  inherit  Eternal  Life,  I  must  cultivate 
a  correspondence  with  the  Eternal.  This  is  a 
simple  proposition,  for  Nature  is  always  simple. 
I  take  this  proposition,  and,  leaving  Nature, 
proceed  to  fill  it  in.  I  search  everywhere  for 
a  clue  to  the  Eternal.  I  ransack  literature  for 
a  definition  of  a  correspondence  between  mail 
and  God.  Obviously  that  can  only  come  from 
one  source.  And  the  analogies  of  Science  per- 
mit  us  to  apply  to  it.  All  knowledge  lies  in 
Environment.  When  I  want  to  know  about 
minerals  I  go  to  minerals.  When  I  want  to 
know  about  flowers  I  go  to  flowers.  And  they 
tell  me.  In  their  own  way  they  speak  to  me, 
each  in  its  own  way,  and  each  for  itself — not 
the  mineral  for  the  flower,  which  is  impossible, 
nor  the  flower  for  the  mineral,  which  is  also 
impossible.  So  if  I  want  to  know  about  Man, 
I  go  to  his  part  of  the  Environment.  And  he 
tells  me  about  himself,  not  as  the  plant  or  the 
mineral,  for  he  is  neither,  but  in  his  own  way. 
And  if  I  want  to  know  about  God,  I  go  to  his 
part  of  the  Environment.  And  lie  tells  me 
about  Himself,  not  as  a  Man,  for  He  is  not  Man, 
but  in  His  own  way.  And  just  as  naturally 
js  the  flower  and  the  mineral  ana  tlie  Man, 


238  ETERNAL  ^ 

each  in  their  own  way,  tell  me  about  them- 
selves,  He  tells  me  about  Himself.  He  very 
strangely  condescends  indeed  in  making  things 
plain  to  me,  actually  assuming  for  a  time  the 
Form  of  a  Man  that  I  at  my  poor  level  may 
better  see  Him.  This  is  my  opportunity  to 
know  Him.  This  incarnation  is  God  making 
Himself  accessible  to  human  thought — God 
opening  to  man  the  possibility  of  correspond- 
ence through  Jesus  Christ.  And  this  corre- 
spondence and  this  Environment  are  those  I 
seek.  He  Himself  assures  me,  "  This  is  Life 
Eternal,  that  they  might  know  Thee,  the  only 
true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  Thou  hast 
sent."  Do  I  not  now  discern  the  deeper  mean- 
ing in  "  Jesus  Christ  whom  Thou  hast  sent"? 
Do  I  not  better  understand  with  what  vision 
and  rapture  the  profoundest  of  the  disciples 
exclaims,  "  The  Son  of  God  is  come,  and  hath 
given  us  an  understanding  that  we  might  know 
Him  that  is  true"?1 

Having  opened  correspondence  with  the 
Eternal  Environment,  the  subsequent  stages 
are  in  the  line  of  all  other  normal  develop- 
ment. We  have  but  to  continue,  to  deepen, 
to  extend,  and  to  enrich  the  correspondence 
that  has  been  begun.  And  we  shall  soon  find 
to  our  surprise  that  this  is  accompanied  by 
another  and  parallel  process.  The  action  is 
not  all  upon  our  side.  The  Environment  also 
will  be  found  to  correspond.  The  influence  of 
Environment  is  one  of  the  greatest  and  most 
substantial  of  modern  biological  doctrines. 
Of  the  power  of  Environment  to  form  or 


ETEENAL  LIFE.  239 

transform  organisms,  of  its  ability  to  develop 
or  suppress  function,  of  its  potency  in  deter- 
mining growth,  and  generally  of  its  immense 
influence  in  Evolution,  there  is  no  need  now 
to  speak.  But  Environment  is  now  acknowl- 
edged to  be  one  of  the  most  potent  factors  in 
the  Evolution  of  Life.  The  influence  of  En- 
vironment too  seems  to  increase  rather  than 
diminish  as  we  approach  the  higher  forms  of 
being.  The  highest  forms  are  the  most 
mobile;  their  capacity  of  change  is  the 
greatest ;  they  are,  in  short,  most  easily  acted 
on  by  Environment.  And  not  only  are  the 
highest  organisms  the  most  mobile,  but  the 
highest  parts  of  the  highest  organisms  are 
more  mobile  than  the  lower.  Environment 
can  do  little,  comparatively,  in  the  direction  of 
inducing  variation  in  the  body  of  a  child ;  but 
how  plastic  is  its  mind !  How  infinitely 
sensitive  is  its  soul !  How  infallibly  can  it  be 
turned  to  music  or  to  dissonance  by  the  moral 
harmony  or  discord  of  its  outward  lot !  How 
decisively  indeed  are  we  not  all  formed 
and  moulded,  made  or  unmade,  by  external 
circumstance !  Might  we  not  all  confess  with 
Ulysses, — 

"I  am  a  part  of  all  that  I  have  met "  ? 

Much  more,  then,  shall  we  look  for  the  in- 
fluence of  Environment  on  the  spiritual  nature 
of  him  who  has  opened  correspondence  with 
God.  Reaching  out  his  eager  and  quickened 
faculties  to  the  spiritual  world  around  him, 
shall  he  not  become  spiritual  ?  In  vital  con- 


240  ETERNAL  LIFE. 

tact  with  Holiness,  shall  he  not  become  holy  t 
Breathing  now  an  atmosphere  of  ineffable 
Purity,  shall  he  miss  becoming  pure  ?  Walk- 
ing with  God  from  day  to  day  shall  he  fail  to 
be  taught  of  God  ? 

Growth  in  grace  is  sometimes  described  as 
a  strange,  mystical,  and  unintelligible  process. 
It  is  mystical,  but  neither  strange  nor  unin- 
telligible. It  proceeds  according  to  Natural 
Law,  and  the  leading  factor  in  sanctification  is 
Influence  of  Environment.  The  possibility  of 
it  depends  upon  the  mobility  of  the  organism ; 
the  result,  on  the  extent  and  frequency  of 
certain  correspondences.  These  facts  insensi- 
bly lead  on  to  a  further  suggestion.  Is  it  not 
possible  that  these  biological  truths  may  c  ^.rry 
with  them  the  clue  to  a  still  profoundcr  phi- 
losophy— even  that  of  Regeneration  ? 

Evolutionists  tell  us  that  by  the  influence  of 
environment  certain  aquatic  animals  have  be- 
come adapted  to  a  terrestrial  mode  of  life. 
Breathing  normally  by  gills,  as  the  result  and 
reward  of  a  continued  effort  carried  on  from 
generation  to  generation  to  inspire  the  air  of 
heaven  direct,  they  have  slowly  acquired  the 
lung-function.  In  the  young  organism,  true 
to  the  ancestral  type,  the  gill  still  persists — as 
in  the  tadpole  of  the  common  frog.  But  as 
maturity  approaches  the  true  lung  appears ; 
the  gill  gradually  transfers  its  task  to  the 
higher  organ.  It  then  becomes  atrophied  and 
disappears,  and  finally  respiration  in  the  adult 
is  conducted  by  lungs  alone.1  "We  may  be  far, 

1  Vide  also  the  remarkable  experiments  of  Fraulein  v. 


ETERNAL  LIFE.  241 

in  the  meantime,  from  saying  that  this  ia 
proved.  It  is  for  those  who  accept  it  to  deny 
the  justice  of  the  spiritual  analogy.  Is  relig- 
ion to  them  unscientific  in  its  doctrine  of  Re- 
generation? Will  the  evolutionist  who  admits 
the  regeneration  of  the  frog  under  the  modify- 
ing influence  of  a  continued  correspondence 
with  a  new  environment,  care  to  question  the 
possibility  of  the  soul  acquiring  such  a  faculty 
as  that  of  Prayer,  the  marvellous  breathing- 
function  of  the  new  creature,  when  in  contact 
with  the  atmosphere  of  a  besetting  God  ?  Is  the 
change  from  the  earthly  to  the  heavenly  more 
mysterious  than  the  change  from  the  aquatic 
co  the  terrestrial  mode  of  Life  ?  Is  Evolution 
to  stop  with  the  organic  ?  If  it  be  objected 
that  it  has  taken  ages  to  perfect  the  function 
in  the  batrachian,  the  reply  is,  that  it  will  take 
ag  •  to  perfect  the  function  in  the  Christian. 
"  ^r  every  thousand  years  the  natural  evolu- 
tion will  allow  for  the  development  of  its 
organism,  the  Higher  Biology  will  grant  its 
product  millions.  We  have  indeed  spoken  of 
t  e  spiritual  correspondence  as  already  perfect 
— but  it  is  perfect  only  as  the  bud  is  perfect. 
"  It  doth  not  yet  appear  what  it  shall  be,"  any 
more  than  it  appeared  a  million  years  ago 
what  the  evolving  batrachian  would  be. 

But  to  return.  We  have  been  dealing  with 
the  scientific  aspects  of  communion  with  God. 
Insensibly,  from  quantity  we  have  been  led  to 

Chauvin  on  the  Transformation  of  the  Mexican  Axolotl 
into  Amblystoms. — Weismann'a  "Studies  in  the  Theory 
of  Descent,"  rel.  ii.  pt.  iii. 

1C 


242  ETERNAL  LIFE. 

speak  of  quality.  And  enough  has  no\v  been 
advanced  to  indicate  generally  the  nature  of 
that  correspondence  with  which  is  necessarily 
associated  Eternal  Life.  There  remains  but 
one  or  two  details  to  which  we  must  lastly, 
and  very  briefly,  address  ourselves. 

The  quality  of  everlastingness  belongs,  as 
we  have  seen,  to  a  single  correspondence,  or 
rather  to  a  single  set  of  correspondences.  But 
it  is  apparent  that  before  this  correspondence 
can  take  full  and  final  effect  a  further  process 
is  necessary.  By  some  means  it  must  be  sep- 
arated from  all  the  other  correspondences 
of  the  organism  which  do  not  share  its  pecul- 
iar quality.  In  this  life  it  is  restrained  by 
these  other  correspondences.  They  may  con- 
tribute to  it,  or  hinder  it;  but  they  are 
essentially  of  a  different  order.  They  belong 
not  to  Eternity  but  to  Time,  and  to  this  pres- 
ent world ;  and,  unless  some  provision  is 
made  for  dealing  with  them,  they  will  detain 
the  aspiring  organism  in  this  present  world  till 
Time  is  ended.  Of  course,  in  a  sense,  all  that 
belongs  to  Time  belongs  also  to  Eternity ;  but 
these  lower  correspondences  are  in  their  nature 
unfitted  for  an  Eternal  Life.  Even  if  they 
were  perfect  in  their  relation  to  their  Environ- 
ment, they  would  still  not  be  Eternal. 
However  opposed,  apparently,  to  the  scientific 
definition  of  Eternal  Life,  it  is  yet  true  that 
perfect  correspondence  with  Environment  is 
not  Eternal  Life.  A  very  important  word  in 
the  complete  definition  'is,  in  this  sentence, 
omitted.  On  that  word  it  has  not  been  neces- 


ETERNAL  LIFE. 

sary  hitherto,  and  for  obvious  reasons,  to 
place  any  emphasis,  but  when  we  come  to  deal 
with  false  pretenders  to  Immortality  we  must 
return  to  it.  Were  the  definition  complete  as 
it  stands,  it  might,  with  the  permission  of  the 
psycho-physiologist,  guarantee  the  Immortality 
of  every  living  thing.  In  the  dog,  for  instance,, 
the  material  framework  giving  way  at  death 
might  leave  the  released  canine  spirit  still  free 
to  inhabit  the  old  Environment.  And  so  with 
every  creature  which  had  ever  established 
a  conscious  relation  with  surrounding  things. 
Now  the  difficulty  in  framing  a  theory  of 
Eternal  Life  has  been  to  construct  one  which 
will  exclude  the  brn'e  creation,  drawing  the 
line  rigidly  at  intr,  or  at  least  somewhere 
within  the  human  race.  Not  that  we  need  ob- 
ject to  the  Immortal' ty  of  the  dog,  or  of  the 
whole  inferior  creat'on.  Nor  that  we  need 
refuse  a  place  to  any  intelligible  speculation 
which  would  peop^  die  earth  to-day  with  the 
invisible  forms  of  aL  things  that  have  ever 
lived.  Only  we  st.ll  insist  that  this  is  not 
Eternal  Life.  And  why  ?  Because  their  En- 
vironment is  not  Eternal.  Their  correspond- 
ence, however  firmly  established,  is  established 
with  that  which  shall  pass  away.  An  Eternal 
Life  demands  an  Eternal  Environment. 

The  demand  for  a  perfect  Environment  as 
well  as  for  a  perfect  correspondence  is  less 
clear  in  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer's  definition  than 
it  might  be.  But  it  is  n  essential  factor.  An 
organism  might  remain  true  to  itc  Environ, 
ment,  but  what  if  the  Environment  played  it 


244  ETERNAL  LIFE. 

false  ?  If  the  organism  possessed  the  power 
to  change,  it  could  adapt  itself  to  successive 
changes  in  the  Environment.  And  if  this  were 
guaranteed  we  should  also  have  the  conditions 
for  Eternal  Life  fulfilled.  But  what  if  the 
Environment  passed  away  altogether  ?  What 
if  the  earth  swept  suddenly  into  the  sun? 
This  is  a  change  of  Environment  against 
which  there  could  be  no  precaution  and  for 
which  there  could  be  as  little  provision. 
With  a  changing  Environment  even,  there 
must  always  remain  the  dread  and  possibility 
of  a  falling  out  of  correspondence.  At  the 
best,  Life  would  be  uncertain.  But  with  a 
changeless  Environment — such  as  that  pos- 
sessed by  the  spiritual  organism — the  per- 
petuity of  the  correspondence,  so  far  as  the 
external  relation  is  concerned,  is  guaranteed. 
This  quality  of  permanence  in  the  Environment 
distinguishes  the  religious  relation  from  every 
other.  Why  should  not  the  musician's  life  be 
an  Eternal  Life  ?  Because,  for  one  thing,  the 
musical  world,  the  Environment  with  which 
he  corresponds,  is  not  eternal.  Even  if  his 
correspondence  in  itself  could  last  eternally, 
the  environing  material  things  with  which  he 
corresponds  must  pass  away.  His  soul  might 
last  forever — but  not  his  violin.  So  the  man 
of  the  world  might  last  forever — but  not  the 
world.  His  Environment  is  not  eternal ;  nor 
are  even  his  correspondences — the  world 
passeth  away  and  the  lust  thereof. 

We  find  then  that  man,  or  the  spiritual  man, 
is  equipped  with  two  sets  of  correspondences. 


ETERNAL  LIFE.  245 

One  set  possesses  the  quality  of  everlastingness, 
the  other  is  temporal.  But  unless  these  are 
separated  by  some  means  the  temporal  will 
continue  to  impair  and  hinder  the  eternal. 
The  final  preparation,  therefore,  for  the  in- 
heriting of  Eternal  Life  must  consist  in  the 
abandonment  of  the  non-eternal  elements. 
These  must  be  unloosed  and  dissociated  from 
the  higher  elements.  And  this  is  effected  by 
a  closing  catastrophe — Death. 

Death  ensues  because  certain  relations  in 
the  organism  are  not  adjusted  to  certain 
relations  in  the  Environment.  There  will 
come  a  time  in  each  history  when  the  imper- 
fect correspondences  of  the  organism  will 
betray  themselves  by  a  failure  to  compass 
some  necessary  adjustment.  This  is  why 
Death  is  associated  with  Imperfection.  Death 
is  the  necessary  result  of  Imperfection,  and 
the  necessary  end  of  it.  Imperfect  correspond- 
ence gives  imperfect  and  uncertain  Life. 
"Perfect  correspondence,"  on  the  other  hand, 
according  to  Mr.  Herbet  Spencer,  would  be 
"perfect  Life."  To  abolish  Death,  therefore, 
all  that  would  be  necessary  would  be  to  abol- 
ish Imperfection.  But  it  is  the  claim  of  Chris- 
tianity that  it  can  abolish  Death.  And  it  is 
significant  to  notice  that  it  does  so  by  meeting 
this  very  demand  of  Science — it  abolishes  Im- 
perfection. 

The  part  of  the  organism  which  begins  to 
get  out  of  correspondence  with  the  Organic 
Environment  is  the  only  part  which  is  in  vital 
correspondence  with  it.  Though  a  fatal  dis- 


;246  ETERNAL  LIFE. 

advantage  to  the  natural  man  to  be  thrown 
out  of  correspondence  with  this  Environment, 
it  is  of  inestimable  importance  to  the  spiritual 
man.  For  so  long  as  it  is  maintained  the  way 
is  barred  for  a  further  Evolution.  And  hence 
the  condition  necessary  for  the  further  Evolu- 
tion is  that  the  spiritual  be  released  from  the 
natural.  That  is  to  say,  the  condition  of  the 
further  Evolution  is  Death.  Mors  janua 
Vitce,  therefore,  becomes  a  scientific  formula. 
Death,  being  the  final  sifting  of  all  the  corre- 
spondences, is  the  indispensable  factor  of  the 
higher  Life.  In  the  language  of  Science,  not 
less  than  of  Scripture,  "  To  die  is  gain." 

The  sifting  of  the  correspondences  is  done  by 
Nature.  This  is  its  last  and  greatest  contri- 
bution to  mankind.  Over  the  mouth  of  the 
grave  the  perfect  and  the  imperfect  submit  to 
their  final  separation.  Each  goes  to  its  own 
— earth  to  earth,  ashes  to  ashes,  dust  to  dust, 
Spirit  to  Spirit.  "  The  dust  shall  return  to  the 
«arth  as  it  was ;  and  the  Spirit  shall  return 
unto  God  who  gave  it." 


1SNVIRONMENT 


"When  I  talked  with  an  ardent  missionary  and 
pointed  out  to  him  that  his  creed  found  no  support  in 
my  experience,  he  replied  :  '  It  is  not  so  in  your  ex- 
perience, but  is  so  in  the  other  world.'  I  answer: 
4  Other  world  1  There  is  no  other  world.  God  is  rne 
and  omnipresent;  here  or  nowhere  is  the  whole 
fact.'"  EMEKSON. 


ENVIRONMENT. 

*•  Ye  are  complete  In  Him." — Paul. 

"  Whatever  amount  of  power  an  organism  expends  in 
ftny  shape  Is  the  correlate  and  equivalent  of  a  power 
that  was  taken  into  it  from  without." — Herbert  Spear 
ter. 

STUDENTS  of  Biography  will  observe  that  in 
all  well- written  Lives  attention  is  concentrated 
for  the  first  few  chapters  upon  two  points. 
We  are  first  introduced  to  the  family  to  which 
the  subject  of  memoir  belonged.  The  grand- 
parents, or  even  the  more  remote  ancestors, 
are  briefly  sketched  and  their  chief  character- 
istics brought  prominently  into  view.  Then 
the  parents  themselves  are  photographed  in 
detail.  Their  appearance  and  physique,  their 
character,  their  disposition,  their  mental  qual- 
ities, are  set  before  us  in  a  critical  analysis. 
And  finally  we  are  asked  to  observe  how  much 
the  father  and  the  mother  respectively  have 
transmitted  of  their  peculiar  nature  to  their 
offspring.  How  faithfully  the  ancestral  lines 
have  met  in  the  latest  product,  how  mysteri- 
ously the  joint  characteristics  of  body  and 
mind  have  blended,  and  how  unexpected  yet 
how  entirely  natural  a  recombination  is  there- 
suit — these  points  are  elaborated  with  cumula- 
tive effect  until  we  realize  at  last  how  little  we 


250  ENVIRONMENT. 

are  dealing  with  an  independent  unit,  how  much 
with  a  survival  and  reorganization  of  what 
seemed  buried  ill  the  grave. 

In  the  second  place,  we  are  invited  to  con- 
sider more  external  influences — schools  and 
schoolmasters,  neighbors,  home,  pecuniary  cir- 
"unistances,  scenery,  and,  by  and  by,  the  relig- 
ious and  political  atmosphere  of  the  time. 
These  also  we  are  assured  have  played  their 
part  in  making  the  individual  what  be  is.  We 
can  estimate  these  early  influences  in  any  par- 
ticular  case  with  but  small  imagination  if  we 
fail  to  see  how  powerfully  they  also  have 
moulded  mind  and  character,  and  in  what 
subtle  ways  they  have  determined  the  course 
of  the  future  life. 

This  twofold  relation  of  the  individual,  first, 
to  his  parents,  and  second,  to  his  circumstances, 
is  not  peculiar  to  human  beings.  These  two 
factors  are  responsible  for  making  all  living 
organisms  what  they  are.  When  a  naturalist 
attempts  to  unfold  the  life-history  of  any  ani- 
mal, he  proceeds  precisely  on  these  same  lines. 
Biography  is  really  a  branch  of  Natural  His- 
tory; and  the  biographer  who  discusses  bis 
hero  as  the  resultant  of  these  two  tendencies, 
follows  the  scientific  method  as  rigidly  as  Mr. 
Darwin  in  studying  "Animals  and  Plants 
under  Domestication." 

Mr.  Darwin,  following  Weismann,  long  ago 
pointed  out  that  there  are  two  main  factors  in 
all  Evolution — the  nature  of  the  organism  and 
the  nature  of  the  conditions.  We  have  chosen 
our  illustration  from  the  highest  or  human 


ENVIRONMENT.  251 

species  in  order  to  define  the  meaning  of  these 
factors  in  the  clearest  way ;  but  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  the  development  of  man  under 
these  directive  influences  is  essentially  the 
same  as  that  of  any  other  organism  in  the 
hands  of  Nature.  We  are  dealing  therefore 
with  universal  Law.  It  will  still  further  serve 
to  complete  the  conception  of  the  general  prin- 
ciple if  we  now  substitute  for  the  casual 
phrases  by  which  the  factors  have  been  de- 
scribed the  more  accurate  terminology  of 
Science.  Thus  what  Biography  describes  as 
parental  influences,  Biology  would  speak  of  as 
Heredity;  and  all  that  is  involved  in  the 
second  factor — the  action  of  external  circum- 
stances and  surroundings — the  naturalist 
would  include  under  the  single  term  Environ- 
ment. These  two,  Heredity  and  Environment, 
are  the  master-influences  of  the  organic  world. 
These  have  made  all  of  us  what  we  are.  These 
forces  are  still  ceaselessly  playing  upon  all  our 
lives.  And  he  who  truly  understands  these 
influences  ;  he  who  has  decided  how  much  to 
allow  to  each ;  he  who  can  regulate  new  forces 
as  they  arise,  or  adjust  them  to  the  old,  so  di- 
recting them  as  at  one  moment  to  make  them 
co-operate,  at  another  to  counteract  one  an- 
other, understands  the  rationale  of  personal 
development.  To  seize  continuously  the  op- 
portunity of  more  and  more  perfect  adjust- 
ment to  better  and  higher  conditions,  to  bal- 
ance some  inward  evil  with  some  purer  in* 
fluence  acting  from  without,  in  a  word  to  make 
our  Environment  at  the  same  time  that  it  is 


252  ENVIRONMENT. 

making  us, — these  are  the  secrets  of  a  well* 
ordered  and  successful  life. 

In  the  spiritual  world,  also,  the  subtle  influ- 
ences which  form  and  transform  the  soul  are 
Heredity  and  Environment.  And  here  espe- 
cially where  all  is  invisible,  where  much  that 
we  feel  to  be  real  is  yet  so  ill-defined,  it  be- 
comes of  vital  practical  moment  to  clarify  the 
atmosphere  as  far  as  possible  with  conceptions 
borrowed  from  the  natural  life.  Few  things 
are  less  understood  than  the  conditions  of  the 
spiritual  life.  The  distressing  incompetence 
of  which  most  of  us  are  conscious  in  trying  to 
work  out  our  spiritual  experience  is  due  per- 
haps less  to  the  diseased  will  which  we  com- 
monly blame  for  it  than  to  imperfect  knowl- 
edge of  the  right  conditions.  It  does  not 
occur  to  us  how  natural  the  spiritual  is.  We 
still  strive  for  some  strange  transcendent  thing ; 
we  seek  to  promote  life  by  methods  as  un- 
natural as  they  prove  unsuccessful ;  and  only 
the  utter  incomprehensibility  of  the  whole 
region  prevents  us  seeing  fully — what  we 
already  half  suspect — how  completely  we  are 
missing  the  road.  Living  in  the  spiritual 
world,  nevertheless,  is  just  as  simple  as  living 
in  the  natural  world;  and  it  is  the  same  kind 
of  simplicity.  It  is  the  same  kind  of  simplic- 
ity for  it  is  the  same  kind  of  world — there  are 
not  two  kinds  of  worlds.  The  conditions  of 
life  in  the  one  are  the  conditions  of  life  in  the 
other.  And  till  these  conditions  are  sensibly 
grasped,  as  the  conditions  of  all  life,  it  is  im- 
possible that  the  personal  effort  after  the  high- 


ENVIRONMENT.  253 

est  life  should  be  other  than  a  blind  struggle 
carried  on  in  fruitless  sorrow  and  humilia- 
tion. 

Of  these  two  universal  factors,  Heredity  and 
Environment,  it  is  unnecessary  to  balance  the 
relative  importance  here.  The  main  influence, 
unquestionably,  must  be  assigned  to  the  former. 
In  practice,  however,  and  for  an  obvious  reason, 
we  are  chiefly  concerned  with  the  latter.  What 
Heredity  has  to  do  for  us  is  determined  outside 
ourselves.  Xo  man  can  select  his  own  parents. 
But  every  man  to  some  extent  can  choose  his 
own  Environment.  His  relation  to  it,  however 
largely  determined  by  Heredity  in  the  first  in- 
stance, is  always  open  to  alteration.  And  so 
great  is  his  control  over  Environment  and  so 
radical  its  influence  over  him,  that  he  can  so 
direct  it  as  either  to  undo,  modify,  perpetuate 
or  intensify  the  earlier  hereditary  influences 
within  certain  limits.  But  the  aspects  of 
Environment  which  we  have  now  to  consider 
do  not  involve  us  in  questions  of  such  com- 
plexity. In  what  high  and  mystical  sense,  also, 
Heredity  applies  to  the  spiritual  organism  we 
need  not  just  now  inquire.  In  the  simpler  re- 
lations of  the  more  external  factor  we  shall  find 
a  large  and  fruitful  field  for  study. 

The  Influence  of  Environment  may  be  inves- 
tigated in  two  main  aspects.  First,  one  might 
discuss  the  modern  and  very  interesting  ques- 
tion as  to  the  power  f  Environment  to  induce 
what  is  known  to  recent  science  as  Variation. 
A  change  in  the  surroundings  of  any  animal,  it  is 
now  well-known,  can  so  react  upon  it  as  to  cause 


254  ENVIRONMENT. 

it  to  change.  By  the  attempt,  conscious  or 
unconscious,  to  adjust  itself  to  the  new  condi- 
tions, a  true  physiological  change  is  gradually 
wrought  within  the  organism.  Hunter,  for  ex- 
ample, in  a  classical  experiment,  so  changed  the 
Environment  of  a  sea-gull  by  keeping  it  in  cap- 
tivity that  it  could  only  secure  a  grain  diet. 
The  effect  was  to  modify  the  stomach  of  the 
bird,  normally  adapted  to  a  fish  diet,  until  in 
time  it  came  to  resemble  in  structure  the  gizzard 
of  an  ordinary  grain-feeder  such  as  the  pigeon* 
Holmgren  again  reversed  this  experiment  by 
feeding  pigeons  for  a  lengthened  period  on  a 
meat-diet,  with  the  result  that  the  gizzard  be- 
came transformed  into  the  carnivorous  stom- 
ach. Mr.  Alfred  Russel  Wallace  mentions  the 
case  of  a  Brazilian  parrot  which  changes  its 
color  from  green  to  red  or  yellow  when  fed  on 
the  fat  of  certain  fishes.  Not  only  changes  of 
food,  however,  but  changes  of  climate  and  of 
temperature,  changes  in  surrounding  organ- 
isms, in  the  ease  of  marine  animals  even  changes 
of  pressure,  of  ocean  currents,  of  light,  and 
many  other  circumstances,  are  known  to  exert 
a  powerful  modifying  influence  upon  living 
organisms.  These  relations  are  still  being 
worked  out  in  many  directions,  but  the  influ- 
ence of  Environment  as  a  prime  factor  in  Vari- 
ation  is  now  a  recognized  doctrine  of  science.1 

lVid«  Karl  Semper' s  '« The  Xatural  Conditions  of  Ex- 
istence as  they  affect  Animal  Life  ;  "  Wallace's  "  Trop- 
ical Nature  ;  "  Weismann's  "  Studies  in  the  Theory  ol 
Descent ; "  Darwin's  "Animals  and  Plants  under  Domes* 
tication." 


ENVIRONMENT.  255 

Even  the  popular  mind  has  been  struck  with 
the  curious  adaptation  of  nearly  all  animals  to 
their  habitat,  for  example  in  the  matter  of 
color.  The  sandy  hue  of  the  sole  and  floun- 
der, the  white  of  the  polar  bear  with  its  sug- 
gestion of  Arctic  snows,  the  stripes  of  the  Bengal 
tiger — as  if  the  actual  reeds  of  its  native  jungle 
had  nature-printed  themselves  on  its  hide  ;-— 
these  and  a  hundred  others  which  will  occur  to 
every  one,  are  marked  instances  of  adaptation  to 
Environment,  induced  by  Natural  Selection  or 
otherwise,  for  the  purpose,  obviously  in  these 
cases  at  least,  of  protection. 

To  continue  the  investigation  of  the  modify- 
ing action  of  Environment  into  the  moral  and 
spiritual  spheres,  would  be  to  open  a  fascinat- 
ing and  suggestive  inquiry.  One  might  show 
hjw  the  moral  man  is  acted  upon  and  changed 
continuously  by  the  influences,  secret  and  open, 
of  his  surroundings,  by  the  tone  of  society,  by 
the  company  he  keeps,  by  his  occupation,  by 
the  books  he  reads,  by  Nature,  by  all,  in  short, 
that  constitutes  the  habitual  atmosphere  of  his 
thoughts  and  the  little  world  of  his  daily  choice. 
Or  one  might  go  deeper  stul  and  prove  how  the 
spi^tual  life  also  is  modified  from  outsid 
sources — its  health  or  disease,  its  growth  or  de- 
cay, all  its  changes  for  better  or  for  worse  being 
determined  by  the  varying  and  successive  cir- 
cumstances in  which  the  religious  habits  are 
cultivated.  But  we  must  rather  transfer  our 
attention  to  a  second  aspect  of  Environment, 
not  perhaps  so  fascinating  but  yet  more  inv 
portant. 


256  ENVIRONMENT. 

So  much  of  the  modern  discussion  of  Envi- 
ronment revolves  round  the  mere  question  of 
Variation  that  one  is  apt  to  overlook  a  previous 
question.  Environment  as  a  factor  in  life  is  not 
exhausted  when  we  have  realized  its  modifying 
influence.  Its  significance  is  snar^ely  touched. 
The  great  function  of  Environment  is  not  to 
modify  but  to  sustain.  In  sustaining  life,  it  is 
true,  it  modifies.  But  the  1  tter  influence  is 
incidental,  the  former  essential.  Our  Environ- 
ment is  that  in  which  we  live  nd  move  and 
have  our  being.  Without  it  w  should  neither 
liv  nor  move  nor  have  any  being.  In  the  or- 
to  ..nism  lies  the  principle  of  ]'  ;  in  the  Envi- 
ronment are  th  condi^on?  of  life.  Without  the 
fulfilment  of  thes  Conditions,  which  are  wholly 
supplied  by  Environment,  here  can  be  no  life. 
An  organism  in  its 'If  is  but  a  part;  Nature  is 
its  complement.  Al  ne,  cut  off  from  its  sur- 
roundings, it  is  not.  Alone,  cut  off  from  my 
surroundings,  I  am  not — physically,  I  am  not. 
I  am,  only  as  I  am  sustained.  I  continue  only 
as  I  receive.  My  Environment  may  modify  mer 
but  it  has  first  to  keep  me.  And  all  the  time 
its  secret  transforming  power  is  indirectly 
moulding  body  and  mind  it  is  directly  active 
in  the  more  open  task  of  ministering  to  my 
myriad  wants  and  from  hour  to  hour  sustain- 
ing life  itself. 

To  understand  the  sustaining  influence  of 
Environment  in  the  animal  world,  one  has  only 
to  recall  what  the  biologist  terms  the  extrinsic 
or  subsidiary  conditions  of  vitality.  Every 
living  thing  normally  requires  for  its  develop* 


ENVIRONMENT.  257 

ment  an  Environment  containing  air,  light, 
heat,  and  water.  In  addition  to  these,  if  vital- 
ity is  to  be  prolonged  for  any  length  of  time, 
and  if  it  is  to  be  accompanied  with  growth  and 
the  expenditure  of  energy,  there  must  be  a  con- 
stant supply  of  food.  When  we  remember  how 
indispensable  food  is  to  growth  and  work,  and 
when  we  further  bear  in  mind  that  the  food- 
supply  is  solely  contributed  by  the  Environ- 
ment, we  shall  realize  at  once  the  meaning  and 
the  truth  of  the  proposition  that  without  En- 
vironment there  can  be  no  life.  Seventy  per 
cent,  at  least  of  the  human  body  is  made  of 
pure  water,  the  rest  of  gases  and  earths.  These 
have  all  come  from  Environment.  Through 
the  secret  pores  of  the  skin  two  pounds  of 
water  are  exhaled  daily  from  every  healthy 
adult.  The  supply  is  kept  up  by  Environ- 
ment. The  Environment  is  really  an  unappro- 
priated part  of  ourselves.  Definite  portions 
are  continuously  abstracted  from  it  and  added 
to  the  organism.  And  so  long  as  the  organism 
continues  to  grow,  act,  think,  speak,  work,  or 
perform  any  other  function  demanding  a  supply 
of  energy,  there  is  a  constant  simultaneous,  and 
proportionate  drain  upon  its  surroundings. 

This  is  a  truth  in  the  physical,  and  therefore 
in  the  spiritual,  world  of  so  great  importance 
that  we  shall  not  mis-spend  time  if  we  follow 
it,  for  further  confirmation,  into  another  de- 
partment of  nature.  Its  significance  in  Biology 
is  self-evident ;  let  us  appeal  to  Chemistry. 

When  a  piece  of  coal  is  thrown  on  the  fire, 
we  say  that  it  will  radiate  into  the  room  a  cer« 
17 


258  ENVIRONMENT. 

tain  quantity  of  heat.  This  heat,  in  the  popu- 
lar conception,  is  supposed  to  reside  in  the  coal 
and  to  be  set  free  during  the  process  of  com- 
bustion. In  reality,  however,  the  heat  energy 
is  only  in  part  contained  in  the  coal.  It  is 
contained  just  as  truly  in  the  coal's  Environ- 
ment— that  is  to  say,  in  the  oxygen  of  the  air. 
The  atoms  of  carbon  which  compose  the  coal 
have  a  powerful  affinity  for  the  oxygen  of  the 
air.  Whenever  they  are  made  to  approach 
within  a  certain  distance  of  one  another,  by  the 
initial  application  of  heat,  they  rush  together 
with  inconceivable  velocity.  The  heat  which 
appears  at  this  moment,  comes  neither  from 
the  carbon  alone,  nor  from  the  oxygen  alone. 
These  two  substances  are  really  inconsumable, 
and  continue  to  exist,  after  they  meet  in  a  com- 
bined form,  as  carbonic  acid  gas.  The  heat  is 
due  to  the  energy  developed  by  the  chemical 
embrace,  the  precipitate  rushing  together  of  the 
molecules  of  carbon  and  the  molecules  of  oxy- 
gen. It  comes,  therefore,  partly  from  the  coal 
and  partly  from  the  Environment.  Coal  alone 
never  could  produce  heat,  neither  alone  could 
Environment.  The  two  are  mutually  depend- 
ent. And  although  in  nearly  all  the  arts  we 
credit  everything  to  the  substance  which  we 
can  weigh  and  handle,  it  is  certain  that  in  most 
cases  the  larger  debt  is  due  to  an  invisible  En- 
vironment. 

This  is  one  of  those  great  commonplaces 
which  slip  out  of  general  reckoning  by  reason 
of  their  very  largeness  and  simplicity.  How 
profound,  nevertheless,  are  the  issues  which 


ENVIRONMENT.  259 

hang  on  this  elementary  truth,  we  shall  dis- 
cover  immediately.  Nothing  in  this  age  ig 
more  needed  in  every  department  of  knowl- 
edge than  the  rejuvenescence  of  the  common- 
place. In  the  spiritual  world  especially,  he 
will  be  wise  who  courts  acquaintance  with  the 
most  ordinary  and  transparent  facts  of  Nature ; 
and  in  laying  the  foundations  for  'a  religious 
life  he  will  make  no  unworthy  beginning  who 
carries  with  him  an  impressive  sense  of  so 
obvious  a  truth  as  that  without  Environment 
there  can  be  no  life. 

For  what  does  this  amount  to  in  the  spirit- 
ual world?  Is  it  not  merely  the  scientific  re- 
statement of  the  reiterated  aphorism  of  Christ, 
"Without  Me  ye  can  do  nothing"?  There  is 
in  the  spiritual  organism  a  principle  of  life; 
but  that  is  not  self-existent.  It  requires  a 
second  factor,  a  something  in  which  to  live 
and  move  and  have  its  being,  an  Environment. 
Without  this  it  cannot  live  or  move  or  have 
any  being.  Without  Environment  the  soul 
is  as  the  carbon  without  the  oxygen,  as  the 
n'sh  without  the  water,  as  the  animal  frame 
without  the  extrinsic  conditions  of  vitality. 

And  what  is  the  spiritual  Environment  ?  It 
is  God.  Without  this,  therefore,  there  is  no 
life,  no  thought,  no  energy,  nothing — "  without 
Me  ye  can  do  nothing." 

The  cardinal  error  in  the  religious  life  is 
to  attempt  t  live  without  an  Environment. 
Spiritual  experience  occupies  itself,  not  too 
much,  but  too  exclusively,  with  one  factor—. 
the  souh  We  delight  in  dissecting  this  muob 


2(50  ENVIRONMENT. 

tortured  faculty,  from  time  to  time,  in  search 
of  a  certain  something  which  we  call  our  faith 
— forgetting  that  faith  is  but  an  attitude,  an 
empty  hand  for  grasping  an  environing  Pres- 
ence. And  when  we  feel  the  need  of  a  power 
^y  which  to  overcome  the  world,  how  often 
do  we  not  seek  to  generate  it  within  our- 
selves by  some  forced  process,  some  fresh  gird- 
ing of  the  will,  some  strained  activity  which 
only  leaves  the  soul  in  further  exhaustion? 
To  examine  ourselves  is  good  ;  but  useless  un- 
less we  also  examine  Environment.  To  bewail 
our  weakness  is  right,  but  not  remedial.  The 
cause  must  be  investigated  as  well  as  the  re- 
sult. And  yet,  because  we  never  see  the  other 
half  of  the  problem,  our  failures  even  fail  to 
instruct  us.  After  each  new  collapse  we  begin 
our  life  anew,  but  on  the  old  conditions  ;  and 
the  attempt  ends  as  usual  in  the  repetition — 
in  the  circumstances  the  inevitable  repetition 
— of  the  old  disaster.  Not  that  at  times  we 
do  not  obtain  glimpses  of  the  true  state  of  the 
case.  After  seasons  of  much  discouragement, 
with  the  sore  sense  upon  us  of  our  abject 
feebleness,  we  do  confer  with  ourselves,  insist- 
ing for  the  thousandth  time,  "My  soul,  wait 
thou  only  upon  God."  But,  the  lesson  is  soon 
forgotten.  The  strength  supplied  we  speedily 
credit  to  our  owji  achievement ;  and  even  the 
temporary  success  is  mistaken  for  a  symptom 
of  improved  inward  vitality.  Once  more  we 
become  self-existent.  Once1  more  we  go  on  liv- 
ing without  an  Environment.  And  once  more, 
after  days  of  wasting  without  repairing,  of 


ENVIRONMENT.  261 

spending  without  replenishing,  we  begin  ta 
perish  with  hunger,  only  returning  to  God 
again,  as  a  last  resort,  when  we  have  reached 
starvation  point. 

Now  why  do  we  do  this  ?  Why  do  we  seek 
to  breathe  without  an  atmosphere,  to  drink 
without  a  well?  Why  this  unscientific  at- 
tempt to  sustain  life  for  weeks  at  a  time  with- 
out an  Environment  ?  It  is  because  we  have 
never  truly  seen  the  necessity  for  an  Environ- 
ment. We  have  not  been  working  with  a 
principle.  We  are  told  to  "wait  only  upon 
God,"  but  we  do  not  know  why.  It  has  never 
been  as  clear  to  us  that  without  God  the  soul 
will  die  as  that  without  food  the  body  will 
perish.  In  short,  we  have  never  comprehended 
the  doctrine  of  the  Persistence  of  Force.  In- 
stead of  being  content  to  transform  energy  we 
have  tried  to  create  it. 

The  Law  of  Nature  here  is  as  clear  as  Sci- 
ence can  make  it.  In  the  words  of  Mr.  Her- 
bert Spencer,  "It  is  a  corollary  from  that 
primordial  truth  which,  as  we  have  seen, 
underlies  all  other  truths,  that  whatever 
amount  of  power  an  organism  expends  in  any 
shape  is  the  correlate  and  equivalent  of  a 
power  that  was  taken  into  it  from  without."  a 
We  are  dealing  here  with  a  simple  question  of 
dynamics.  Whatever  energy  the  soul  expends- 
must  first  be  "  taken  into  it  from  without." 
We  are  not  Creators,  but  crc  atures ;  God  is  our 
refuge  and  strength.  Communion  with  God, 

1  "Principles  of  Biology,"  p.  57. 


262  ENVIRONMENT. 

therefore,  is  a  scientific  necessity ;  and  nothing 
will  more  help  the  defeated  spirit  which  is 
struggling  in  the  wreck  of  its  religious  life 
than  a  common- sense  hold  of  this  plain  bio- 
logical principle  that  without  Environment  he 
can  do  nothing.  What  he  wants  is  not  an 
occasional  view,  but  a  principle — a  basal  princi- 
ple Kke  this,  broad  as  the  universe,  solid  as 
nature.  In  the  natural  world  we  act  upon  this 
law  unconsciously.  We  absorb  heat,  breathe 
air,  draw  on  Environment  all  but  automatically 
for  meat  and  drink,  for  the  nourishment  of  the 
senses,  for  mental  stimulus,  for  all  that,  pene- 
trating us  from  without,  can  prolong,  enrich, 
and  elevate  life.  But  in  the  spiritual  world  we 
have  all  this  to  learn.  We  are  new  creatures, 
and  even  the  bare  living  has  to  be  acquired. 

Now  the  great  point  in  learning  to  live  is  to 
live  naturally.  As  closely  as  possible  we  must 
follow  the  broad,  clear  lines  of  the  natural  life. 
And  there  are  three  things  especially  which  it 
is  necessary  for  us  to  keep  continually  in  view. 
The  first  is  that  the  organism  contains  within 
itself  only  one-half  of  what  is  essential  to  life  ; 
the  second  is  that  the  other  half  is  contained 
in  the  Environment;  the  third,  that  the  condi- 
tion of  receptivity  is  simple  union  between  the 
organism  and  the  Environment. 

Translated  into  the  language  of  religion 
these  propositions  yield,  and  place  on  a  scienti- 
fic basis,  truths  of  immense  practical  interest. 
To  say,  first,  that  the  organism  contains 
within  itself  only  one-half  of  what  is  essential 
to  life,  is  to  repeat  the  evangelical  confession, 


ENVIRONMENT.  263 

BO  worn  and  yet  so  true  to  universal  experi- 
ence, of  the  utter  helplessness  of  man.  Who 
has  not  come  to  the  conclusion  that  he  is  but  a 
part,  a  fraction  of  some  larger  whole  ?  Who 
does  not  miss  at  every  turn  of  his  life  an  ab- 
sent God  ?  That  man  is  but  a  part,  he  knows, 
for  there  is  room  in  him  or  more.  That  God 
is  the  other  part,  he  feels,  because  at  times  He 
satisfies  his  need.  Who  does  not  tremble  often 
under  that  sicklier  symptom  of  his  incom- 
pleteness, his  want  of  spiritual  energy,  his 
helplessness  with  sin?  But  now  he  under- 
stands both — the  void  in  his  life,  the  power- 
lessness  of  his  will.  He  understands  that, 
like  all  other  energy,  spiritual  power  is  con- 
tained in  Environment.  He  finds  here  at  last 
the  true  root  of  all  human  frailty,  emptiness, 
nothingness,  sin.  This  is  why  "without  Me 
ye  can  do  nothing."  Powerlessness  is  the 
normal  state  not  only  of  this  but  of  every 
organism — of  every  organism  apart  from  its 
Environment 

The  entire  dependence  of  the  soul  upon  God 
is  not  an  exceptional  mystery,  nor  is  man's 
helplessness  an  arbitrary  and  unprecedented 
phenomenon.  It  is  the  law  of  all  Nature. 
The  spiritual  man  is  not  taxed  beyond  the 
natural.  He  is  not  purposely  handicapped  by 
singular  limitations  or  unusual  incapacities. 
God  has  not  designedly  made  the  religious  life 
as  hard  as  possible.  The  arrangements  for 
the  spiritual  life  are  the  same  as  for  the 
natural  life.  When  in  their  hours  of  unbelief 
men  challenge  their  Creator  for  placing  the 


264  ENVIRONMENT. 

obstacle  of  human  frailty  in  the  way  of  their 
highest  development,  their  protest  is  against 
the  order  of  nature.  They  object  to  the  sun 
for  being  the  source  of  energy  and  not  the  en- 
gine, to  the  carbonic  acid  being  in  the  air  and 
not  in  the  plant.  They  would  equip  each 
organism  with  a  personal  atmosphere,  each 
brain,  with  a  private  store  of  energy ;  they 
would  grow  corn  in  the  interior  of  the  body, 
and  make  bread  by  a  special  apparatus  in  the 
digestive  organs.  They  must,  in  short,  have 
the  creature  transformed  into  a  Creator.  The 
organism  must  either  depend  on  his  environ- 
ment, or  be  self-sufficient.  But  who  will  not 
rather  approve  the  arrangement  by  which 
man  in  his  creatural  life  may  have  unbroken 
access  to  an  Infinite  Power  ?  What  soul  will 
seek  to  remain  self-luminous  when  it  knows 
that  "The  Lord  God  is  a  Sun"?  Who  will 
not  willingly  exchange  his  shallow  vessel  for 
Christ's  well  of  living  water?  Even  if  the 
organism,  launched  into  being  like  a  ship  put- 
ting out  to  sea,  possessed  a  full  equipment,  its 
little  store  must  soon  come  to  an  end.  But  in 
contact  with  a  large  and  bounteous  Environ- 
ment its  supply  is  limitless.  In  every  direc- 
tion its  resources  are  infinite. 

There  is  a  modern  school  which  protests 
against  the  doctrine  of  man's  inability  as  the 
heartless  fiction  of  a  past  theology.  While 
some  forms  of  that  dogma,  t6  any  one  who 
knows  man,  are  incapable  of  defence,  there  are 
others  which,  to  any  one  who  knows  Nature, 
are  incapable  of  denial.  Those  who  oppose 


ENVIRONMENT.  205 

it,  in  their  jealousy  for  humanity,  credit  the 
organism  with  the  properties  of  Environment. 
All  true  theology,  on  the  other  hand,  has  re- 
mained loyal  to  at  least  the  root-idea  in  this 
truth.  The  New  Testament  is  nowhere  more 
impressive  than  where  it  insists  on  the  fact  of 
man's  dependence.  In  its  view  the  first  step 
in  religion  is  for  man  to  feel  his  helplessness. 
Christ's  first  beatitude  is  to  the  poor  in  spirit. 
The  condition  of  entrance  into  the  spiritual 
kingdom  is  to  possess  the  child-spirit — that 
state  of  mind  combining  at  once  the  profoundest 
helplessness  with  the  most  artless  feeling  of 
dependence.  Substantially  the  same  idea 
underlies  the  countless  passages  in  which 
Christ  affirms  that  He  has  not  come  to  call  the 
righteous,  but  sinners  to  repentance.  And  in 
that  farewell  discourse  into  which  the  Great 
Teacher  poured  the  most  burning  convictions 
of  His  life,  He  gives  to  this  doctrine  an  ever 
increasing  emphasis.  No  words  could  be  more 
solemn  or  arresting  than  the  sentence  in  the 
last  great  allegory  devoted  to  this  theme,  "  As 
the  branch  cannot  bear  fruit  of  itself  except  it 
abide  in  the  vine,  no  more  can  ye  except  ye 
abide  in  Me."  The  word  here,  it  will  be 
observed  again,  is  cannot.  It  is  the  imperative 
of  natural  law.  Fruit-bearing  without  Christ 
is  not  an  improbability,  but  an  impossibility. 
As  well  expect  the  natural  fruit  to  flourish  with, 
•out  air  and  heat,  without  soil  and  sunshine. 
How  thoroughly  also  Paul  grasped  this  truth 
is  apparent  from  a  hundred  pregnant  passages 
in  which  he  echoes  his  Master's  teaching.  To 


266  ENVIRONMENT. 

him  life  was  hid  with  Christ  in  God.  And  that 
he  embraced  this  not  as  a  theory  but  as  an  ex- 
perimental truth  we  gather  from  his  constant 
confession,  "  When  I  am  weak,  then  ain  I 
strong." 

This  leads  by  a  natural  transition  to  the 
second  of  the  three  points  we  are  seeking  to 
illustrate.  We  have  seen  that  the  organism 
contains  within  itself  only  one  half  of  what  is 
essential  to  life.  We  have  next  to  observe,  as 
the  complement  of  this,  how  the  second  half  is 
contained  in  the  Environment. 

One  result  of  the  due  apprehension  of  our 
personal  helplessness  will  be  that  we  shall  no 
longer  wTaste  our  time  over  the  impossible  task 
of  manufacturing  energy  for  ourselves.  Our 
science  will  bring  to  an  abrupt  end  the  long 
series  of  severe  experiments  in  which  we  have 
indulged  in  the  hope  of  finding  a  perpetual 
motion.  And  having  decided  upon  this  once 
for  all,  our  first  step  in  seeking  a  more  satis- 
factory state  of  things  must  be  to  find  a  new 
source  of  energy.  Following  Nature,  only  one 
course  is  open  to  us.  We  must  refer  to 
Environment.  The  natural  life  owes  all  to 
Environment,  so  must  the  spiritual.  Now 
the  Environment  of  the  spiritual  life  is  God. 
As  Nature  therefore  forms  the  complement  of 
the  natural  life,  God  is  the  complement  of  the 
p^iritual. 

The  proof  of  this  ?  That  Nature  is  not  more 
natural  to  my  body  than  God  is  to  my  soul. 
Every  animal  and  plant  has  its  own  Environ- 
ment. And  the  further  one  inquires  into  the 


ENVIRONMENT.  -Jd7 

relations  of  the  one  to  the  other,  the  aiore  one 
sees  the  marvellous  intricacy  and  beauty  of 
the  adjustments.  These  wonderful  adapta- 
tions of  each  organism  to  its  surroundings — of 
the  fish  to  the  water,  of  the  eagle  io  the  air,  of 
the  insect  to  the  forest-bed ;  and  of  each  part 
of  every  organism — the  fish's  swim-bladder,  the 
eagle's  eye,  the  insect's  breathing  tubes — which 
the  old  argument  from  design  brought  home  to 
us  with  such  enthusiasm,  inspire  us  still  with  a 
sense  of  the  boundless  resource  and  skill  of 
Nature  in  perfecting  her  arrangements  for  each 
single  life.  Down  to  the  last  detail  the  world 
is  made  for  what  is  in  it ;  and  by  whatever 
process  things  are  as  they  are,  all  organisms 
find  in  surrounding  Nature  the  ample  comple- 
ment of  themselves.  Man,  too,  finds  in  his 
Environment  provision  for  all  capacities,  scope 
for  the  exercise  of  every  faculty,  room  for  the 
indulgence  of  each  appetite,  a  just  supply  for 
every  want.  So  the  spiritual  man  at  the  apex 
of  the  pyramid  of  life  finds  in  the  vaster  range 
of  his  Environment  a  provision,  as  much 
higher,  it  is  true,  as  he  is  higher,  but  as  del- 
icately adjusted  to  his  varying  needs.  And 
all  this  is  supplied  to  him  just  as  the  lower 
organisms  are  ministered  to  by  the  lower  en- 
vironment, in  the  same  simple  ways,  in  the 
same  constant  sequence,  as  appropriately  and 
as  lavishly.  We  fail  to  praise  the  ceaseless 
ministry  of  the  great  inanimate  world  around 
us  only  because  its  kindness  is  unobtrusive. 
Nature  is  always  noiseless.  All  her  greatest 
gifts  are  given  in  secret.  And  we  forget  how 


268  ENVIRONMENT. 

truly  every  good  and  perfect  gift  comes  from 
without,  and  from  above,  because  no  pause  in 
her  changeless  beneficence  teaches  us  the  sad 
lessons  of  deprivation. 

It  is  not  a  strange  thing,  then,  for  the  soul 
to  find  its  life  in  God.  This  is  its  native  air. 
God  as  the  Environment  of  the  soul  has  been 
from  the  remotest  age  the  doctrine  of  all  the 
deepest  thinkers  in  religion.  How  profouudly 
Hebrew  poetry  is  saturated  with  this  high 
thought  will  appear  when  we  try  to  conceive 
of  it  with  this  left  out.  True  poetry  is  only 
science  in  another  form.  And  long  before  it  was 
possible  for  religion  to  give  scientific  expression 
to  its  greatest  truths,  men  of  insight  uttered 
themselves  in  psalms  which  could  not  have  been 
truer  to  Nature  had  the  most  modern  light  con- 
trolled the  inspiration.  "  As  the  hart  panteth 
after  the  water-brooks,  so  panteth  my  soul 
after  Thee,  O  God."  What  fine  sense  of  the 
analogy  of  the  natural  and  the  spiritual  does 
not  underlie  these  words !  As  the  hart  after 
its  Environment,  so  man  after  his ;  as  the 
water-brooks  are  fitly  designed  to  meet  the 
natural  wants,  so  fitly  does  God  implement  the 
spiritual  need  of  man.  It  will  be  noticed  that 
in  the  Hebrew  poets  the  longing  for  God  never 
strikes  one  as  morbid,  or  unnatural  to  the  men 
who  uttered  it.  It  is  as  natural  to  them  to 
long  for  God  as  for  the  swallow  to  seek  her 
nest.  Throughout  all  their  images  no  suspi- 
cion rises  within  us  that  they  are  exaggerating. 
We  feel  how  truly  they  are  reading  themselves, 
their  deepest  selves.  No  false  note  occurs  i» 


ENVIRONMENT.  269 

all  their  aspiration.  There  is  no  weariness 
even  in  their  ceaseless  sighing,  except  the 
lover's  weariness  for  the  absent — if  they  would 
fly  away,  it  is  only  to  be  at  rest.  Men  who 
have  no  soul  can  only  wonder  at  this.  Men 
who  have  a  soul,  but  with  little  faith,  can  only 
envy  it.  How  joyous  a  thing  it  was  to  the 
Hebrews  to  seek  their  God !  How  artlessly 
they  call  upon  Him  to  entertain  them  in  His 
pavilion,  to  cover  them  with  His  feathers,  to 
hide  them  in  II is  secret  place,  to  hold  them  in 
the  hollow  of  His  hand  or  stretch  around  them 
the  everlasting  arms!  These  men  were  true 
children  of  Nature.  As  the  humming-bird 
among  its  own  palm-trees,  as  the  ephemera  in 
the  sunshine  of  a  summer  evening,  so  they 
lived  their  joyous  lives.  And  even  the  full 
share  of  the  sadder  experiences  of  life  which 
came  to  all  of  them  but  drove  them  the  further 
into  the  Secret  Place,  and  led  them  with  more 
consecration  to  make,  as  they  expressed  it, 
"the  Lord  their  portion."  All  that  has  been 
said  since  from  Marcus  Aurelius  to  Swedenborg, 
from  Augustine  to  Schleiermacher  of  a  beset- 
ting God  as  the  final  complement  of  humanity 
is  but  a  repetition  of  the  Hebrew  poet's  faith. 
And  even  the  New  Testament  has  nothing 
higher  to  offer  man  than  this.  The  psalmist's 
"  God  is  our  refuge  and  strength  "  is  only  the 
earlier  form,  less  defined,  less  practicable,  but 
not  less  noble,  of  Christ's  "  Come  unto  Me,  and 
I  will  give  you  rest." 

There  is  a  brief  phrase  of  Paul's  which  de- 
fines the  relation  with  almost  scientific  accu- 


270  ENVIRONMENT. 

racy, — "Ye  are  complete  in  Him."  In  this  ia 
summed  up  the  whole  of  the  Bible  anthropology 
— the  completeness  of  man  in  God,  his  incom- 
pleteness apart  from  God. 

If  it  be  asked,  in  what  is  man  incomplete,  or, 
In  what  does  God  complete  him  ?  the  question 
is  a  wide  one.  But  it  may  serve  to  show  at 
least  the  direction  in  which  the  Divine  En- 
vironment forms  the  complement  of  human 
life  if  we  ask  ourselves  once  more  what  it  is 
in  life  that  needs  complementing.  And  to  this 
question  we  receive  the  significant  answer  that 
it  is  in  the  higher  departments  alone,  or  mainly, 
that  the  incompleteness  of  our  life  appears. 
The  lower  departments  of  Nature  are  already 
complete  enough.  The  world  itself  is  about  as 
good  a  world  as  might  be.  It  has  been  long  in 
the  making,  its  furniture  is  all  in,  its  laws  are 
in  perfect  working  order;  and  although  wise 
men  at  various  times  have  suggested  improve- 
ments, there  is  on  the  whole  a  tolerably 
unanimous  vote  of  confidence  in  things  as  they 
exist.  The  Divine  Environment  has  little 
more  to  do  for  this  planet  so  far  as  we  can  see, 
and  so  far  as  the  existing  generation  is  con- 
cerned. Then  the  lower  organic  life  of  the 
world  is  also  so  far  complete.  God,  through 
Evolution  or  otherwise,  may  still  have  finish- 
ing touches  to  add  here  and  there,  but,  already 
it  is  "all  very  good."  It  is  difficult  to  con- 
ceive anything  better  of  its  kind  than  a  lily  or 
a  cedar,  an  ant  or  an  ant-eater.  These  organ- 
isms, so  far  as  we  can  judge,  lack  nothing.  It 
might  be  said  of  them,  "  they  are  complete  in 


ENVIRONMENT.  27* 

Nature."  Of  man  also,  of  man  the  animal,  it 
may  be  affirmed  that  his  Environment  satisfies 
him.  He  has  food  and  drink,  and  good  food 
and  good  drink.  And  there  is  in  him  no  purely 
animal  want  which  is  not  really  provided  for, 
and  that  apparently  in  the  happiest  possible 
way. 

But  the  moment  we  pass  beyond  the  mere 
animal  life  we  begin  to  come  upon  an  incom- 
pleteness. The  symptoms  at  first  are  slight, 
and  betray  themselves  only  by  an  unexplained 
'restlessness  or  a  dull  sense  of  want.  Then  the 
feverishness  increases,  becomes  more  defined, 
and  passes  slowly  into  abiding  pain.  To  some 
come  darker  moments  when  the  unrest  deepens 
into  a  mental  agony  of  which  all  the  other 
woes  of  earth  are  mockeries — moments  when 
the  forsaken  soul  can  only  cry  in  terror  for  the 
Living  God.  Up  to  a  point  the  natural  En- 
vironment supplies  man's  wants,  beyond  that 
it  only  derides  him.  How  much  in  man  lies 
beyond  that  point?  Very  much — almost  all, 
all  that  makes  man  man.  The  first  suspicion 
of  the  terrible  truth — so  for  the  time  let  us 
call  it — wakens  with  the  dawn  of  the  intel- 
lectual life.  It  is  a  solemn  moment  when  the 
slow-moving  mind  reaches  at  length  the  verge 
of  its  mental  horizon,  and,  looking  over,  sees 
nothing  more.  Its  straining  makes  the  abyss 
but  more  profound.  Its  cry  comes  back  with- 
out an  echo.  Where  is  the  Environment  to 
complete  this  rational  soul  ?  Men  either  find 
one, —  One — or  spend  the  rest  of  their  days  in 
trying  to  shut  their  eyes.  The  alternatives  of 


272  ENVIRONMENT. 

the  intellectual  life  are  Christianity  or  Ag- 
nosticism. The  Agnostic  is  right  when  he 
trumpets  his  incompleteness.  He  who  is  not 
complete  in  Him  must  forever  incomplete. 
Still  more  grave  becomes  man's  case  when  he 
begins  further  to  explore  his  moral  and  social 
nature.  The  problems  of  the  heart  and  con- 
science are  infinitely  more  perplexing  than 
those  of  the  intellect.  Has  love  no  future  ? 
Has  right  no  triumph  ?  Is  the  unfinished  self 
to  remain  unfinished  ?  Again  the  alternatives 
are  two,  Christianity  or  Pessimism.  But  when  ' 
we  ascend  the  further  height  of  the  religious  na- 
ture, the  crisis  comes.  There,  without  Environ- 
ment, the  darkness  is  unutterable.  So  madden- 
ing now  becomes  the  mystery  that  men  are  com- 
pelled to  construct  an  Environment  for  them- 
selves.  No  Environment  here  is  unthinkable. 
An  altar  of  some  sort  men  must  have — God,  or 
Nature,  or  Law.  But  the  anguish  of  Atheism 
is  only  a  negative  proof  of  man's  incomplete- 
ness. A  witness  more  overwhelming  is  the 
prayer  of  the  Christian.  What  a  very  strange 
thing,  is  it  not,  for  man  to  pray?  It  is  the 
symbol  at  once  of  his  littleness  and  of  his 
greatness.  Here  the  sense  of  imperfection, 
controlled  and  silenced  in  the  narrower  reaches 
of  his  being,  becomes  audible.  Now  he  must 
utter  himself.  The  sense  of  need  is  so  real, 
and  the  sense  of  Environment,  that  he  calls  put 
to  it,  addressing  it  articulately,  and  imploring 
it  to  satisfy  his  need.  Surely  there  is  nothing 
more  touching  in  Nature  than  this  ?  Man 
could  never  so  expose  himself,  so  break  through 


ENVIRONMENT.  273T 

all  constraint,  except  from  a  dire  necessity.  It 
is  the  suddenness  and  unpremeditatedness  of 
Prayer  that  gives  it  a  unique  value  as  an 
apologetic. 

Man  has  three  questions  to  put  to  his  En- 
vironment, three  Symbols  of  his  incomplete* 
ness.  They  come  from  three  different  centre* 
of  his  being.  The  first  is  the  question  of  the 
intellect,  What  is  Truth?  The  natural  En- 
vironment answers,  "  Increase  of  Knowledge 
increaseth  Sorrow,"  and  "much  study  is  a 
Weariness."  Christ  replies,  "  Learn  of  Me,  and 
ye  shall  find  Rest."  Contrast  the  world's 
word  "  Weariness  "  with  Christ's  word  "  Rest.'* 
No  other  teacher  since  the  world  began  ha* 
ever  associated  "  learn  "  with  "  Rest."  Leant 
of  me,  says  the  philosopher,  and  you  shall  find 
Restlessness.  Learn  of  Me,  says  Christ,  and 
ye  shall  find  Rest.  Thought,  which  the  god- 
less man  has  cursed,  that  eternally  starved  yet 
ever  living  spectre,  finds  at  last  its  imperish- 
able glory  ;  Thought  is  complete  in  Him.  The 
second  question  is  sent  up  from  the  moral 
nature,  Who  will  show  us  any  good  ?  And 
again  we  have  a  contrast :  the  world's  verdict, 
"  There  is  none  that  doeth  good,  no,  not  one;'* 
and  Christ's,  "  There  is  none  good  but  God 
only."  And,  finally,  there  is  the  lonely  cry 
of  the  spirit,  most  pathetic  and  most  deep  of 
all,  Where  is  he  whom  my  soul  seeketh? 
And  the  yearning  is  met  as  before,  "  I  looked 
on  my  right  hand,  and  beheld,  but  there  was 
no  man  that  would  know  me ;  refuge  failed 
me ;  no  man  cared  for  my  soul.  I  cried  unto 
18 


274  ENVIRONMENT. 

Thee,  0  Lord :  I  said,  Thou  art  my  refuge  and 
my  portion  in  the     nd  of  the  living." 1 

Are  these  the  directions  in  which  men  in 
these  d  ys  ar~  seeking  to  complete  their  lives  ? 
The  completion  of  Life  is  just  now  a  supreme 
question.  It  is  important  to  observe  how  it  is 
being  answered.  If  we  ask  Science  or  Phi- 
losophy they  will  refer  us  to  Evolution.  The 
struggle  for  Life,  they  assure  us,  is  steadily 
eliminating  imperfect  forms,  and  as  the  fittest 
continue  to  survive  we  shall  have  a  gradual 
perfecting  of  being.  That  is  to  say,  that  com- 
pleteness is  to  be  sought  for  in  the  organism — 
we  are  to  be  complete  in  Nature  and  in  our- 
selves. To  Evolution,  certainly,  all  men  will 
look  for  a  further  perfecting  of  Life.  But  it 
must  be  an  Evolution  which  includes  all  the 
factors.  Civilization,  it  may  be  said,  will  deal 
with  the  second  factor.  It  will  improve  the 
Environment  step  by  step  as  it  improves  the 
organism,  or  the  organism  as  it  improves  the 
Environment.  This  is  well,  and  it  will  perfect 
Life  up  to  a  point.  But  beyond  that  it  cannot 
carry  us.  As  the  possibilities  of  the  natural 
Life  become  more  defined,  its  impossibilities 
will  become  the  more  appalling.  The  most 
perfect  civilization  would  leave  the  best  part 
of  us  still  incomplete.  Men  will  have  to  give 
up  the  experiment  of  attempting  to  live  in  half 
an  Environment.  Half  an  Environment  will 
give  but  half  a  Life.  Half  an  Environment? 
He  whose  correspondences  are  with  this  world 

IPS.  cxlii.  4,  5. 


ENVIRONMENT.  275 

alone  has  only  a  thousandth  part,  a  fraction, 
the  mere  rim  and  shade  of  an  Environment, 
and  only  the  fraction  of  a  Life.  How  long  will 
it  take  Science  to  believe  its  own  creed,  that 
the  material  universe  we  see  around  us  is  only 
a  fragment  of  the  universe  we  do  not  see  ?  The 
very  retention  of  the  phrase  "Material  Uni- 
verse," we  are  told,  is  the  confession  of  our 
unbelief  and  ignorance  ;  since  "  matter  is  the 
less  important  half  of  the  material  of  the 
physical  universe."  1 

The  thing  to  be  aimed  at  is  not  an  organism 
self-contained  and  self-sufficient,  however  high 
in  the  scale  of  being,  but  an  organism  complete 
in  the  whole  Environment.  It  is  open  to  any 
one  to  aim  at  a  self-sufficient  Life,  but  he  will 
find  no  encouragement  in  Nature.  The  Life 
of  the  body  may  complete  itself  in  the  physical 
world ;  that  is  its  legitimate  Environment. 
The  Life  of  the  senses,  high  and  low,  may 
perfect  itself  in  Nature.  Even  the  Life  of 
thought  may  find  a  large  complement  in  sur- 
rounding things.  But  the  higher  thought,  and 
the  conscience,  and  the  religious  Life,  can  only 
perfect  themselves  in  God.  To  make  the  in- 
fluence of  Environment  stop  with  the  natural 
world  is  to  doom  the  spiritual  nature  to  death. 
For  the  soul,  like  the  body,  can  never  perfect 
itself  in  isolation.  The  law  for  both  is  to  be 
complete  in  the  appropriate  Environment. 
And  the  perfection  to  be  sought  in  the  spiritual 
world  is  a  perfection  of  relation,  a  perfect 

1The  "  Unseen  Universe,"  6th  Ed.  p.  100. 


276  ENVIRONMENT. 

adjustment  of  that  which  is  becoming  perfect 
to  that  which  is  perfect. 

The  third  problem,  now  simplified  to  a  point, 
finally  presents  itself.  *  Where  do  organism 
and  Environment  meet  ?  How  does  that  which 
is  becoming  perfect  avail  itself  of  its  perfecting 
Environment  ?  And  the  answer  is,  just  as  in 
Nature.  The  condition  is  simply  receptivity. 
And  yet  this  is  perhaps  the  least  simple  of  all 
•conditions.  It  is  so  simple  that  we  will  not 
act  upon  it.  But  there  is  no  other  condition. 
Christ  has  condensed  the  whole  truth  into  one 
memorable  sentence,  "As  the  branch  cannot 
bear  fruit  of  itself  except  it  abide  in  the  vine, 
no  more  can  ye  except  ye  abide  in  Me."  And 
an  the  positive  side,  "  He  that  abideth  in  Me 
Hie  same  bringeth  forth  much  fruit." 


CONFORMITY  TO  TYPE. 


"  '  So  careful  of  the  type  ?'  but  no, 
From  scarped  cliff  and  quarried  stone 
She  cries,  'A  thousand  types  are  gone, 

I  care  for  nothing,  all  shall  go. 

'  Thou  makest  thine  appeal  to  me  ; 
I  bring  to  life,  I  bring  to  death  : 
The  spirit  does  but  mean  thy  breath  : 

I  know  no  more.'    And  lie,  shall  he, 

Man,  her  last  work,  who  seern'd  so  fair, 
Such  splendid  purpose  in  his  eyes, 
"Who  roll'd  the  psalm  to  wintry  skies, 

Who  built  him  fanes  of  fruitless  prayer, 

Who  trusted  God  was  love  indeed 
And  love  Creation's  final  law — 
Tho'  Nature,  red  in  tooth  and  claw 

With  rapine,  shriek'd  against  his  creed — 

Who  loved,  who  suffer'd  countless  ills, 
Who  battled  for  the  True,  the  Just, 
Be  blown  about  the  desert  dust 

Or  seal'd  within  the  iron  hills?" 

IN  MEMORIAM, 


CONFORMITY    TO   TYPE. 

u  Until  Christ  be  formed  in  you." — Paul. 

"  The  one  end  to  which,  in  all  living  heings,  the  form- 
ative impulse  is  tending — the  one  scheme  which  the 
Archseus  of  the  old  speculators  strives  to  carry  out,  seems 
to  be  to  mould  the  offspring  into  the  likeness  of  the 
parent.  It  is  the  first  great  law  of  reproduction,  that  the 
offspring  tends  to  resemble  its  parent  or  parents  more 
closely  than  anything  else." — Huxley.' 

IF  a  botanist  be  asked  the  difference  between 
an  oak,  a  palm-tree,  and  a  lichen,  he  will  declare 
that  they  are  separated  from  one  another  by 
the  broadest  line  known  to  classification. 
Without  taking  into  account  the  outward  dif- 
ferences of  size  and  form,  the  variety  of  flower 
and  fruit,  the  peculiarities  of  leaf  and  branch, 
he  sees  even  in  their  general  architecture  types 
of  structure  as  distinct  as  Norman,  Gothic  and 
Egyptian.  But  if  the  first  young  germs  of 
these  three  plants  are  placed  before  him  and  he 
is  called  upon  to  define  the  difference,  he  finds 
it  impossible.  He  cannot  even  say  which  is 
which.  Examined  under  the  highest  powers 
of  the  microscope  they  yield  no  clue.  Analyzed 
by  the  chemist  with  all  the  appliances  of  his 
laboratory  they  keep  their  secret. 

The  same  experiment  can  be  tried  with  the 
embryos  of  animals.  Take  the  ovule  of  the 


280  CONFORMITY  TO  TYPE. 

worm,  the  eagle,  the  elephant,  and  of  man 
himself.  Let  the  most  skilled  observer  apply 
the  most  searching  tests  to  distinguish  one 
from  the  other  and  he  will  fail.  But  there 
is  something  more  surprising  still.  Compare 
next  the  two  sets  of  germs,  the  vegetable  and 
the  animal.  And  there  s  still  no  shade  of 
difference.  Oak  and  palm,  worm  and  man,  all 
start  in  life  together.  No  matter  into  what 
strangely  different  forms  they  may  afterwards 
develop,  no  matt  -  whether  hey  are  to  live  on 
sea  or  land,  creep  or  fly,  swim  or  walk,  think 
or  vegetate,  in  the  embry  as  first  meets  the 
-eye  of  Science  they  ar  indistinguishable.  The 
apple  which  fell  in  Newton's  Garden,  Newton's 
dog  Diamond,  and  Newton  himself,  began  life 
at  the  same  point.1 

If  we  analyze  this  material  point  at  which 
all  life  starts,  we  shall  find  it  to  consist  of  a 


1  "  There  is,  Indeed,  a  period  in  the  development  of 
-every  tissue  and  every  living  thing  known  to  us  when 
there  are  actually  no  structural  peculiarities  whatever — 
when  the  whole  organism  consists  of  transparent,  struct- 
ureless, semi-fluid  living  bioplasm — when  it  would  not 
be  possible  to  distinguish  the  growing  moving  matter 
which  was  to  evolve  the  oak  from  that  which  was  the 
germ  of  a  vertebrate  animal.  Nor  can  any  difference  be 
discerned  between  the  bioplasm  matter  of  the  lowest, 
simplest,  epithelial  scale  of  man's  organism  and  that 
from  which  the  nerve  cells  of  his  brain  are  to  be  evolved. 
Neither  by  studying  bioplasm  under  the  microscope  nor 
by  any  kind  of  physical  or  chemical  investigation  known, 
can  we  form  any  notion  of  the  nature  of  the  substance 
which  is  to  be  formed  by  the  bioplasm,  or  what  will 
be  the  ordinary  results  of  the  living."  "  Bioplasm," 
Lionel  S.  Beale,  F.  R.  S. ,  pp.  17,  18. 


CONFORMITY  TO  TYPE.  281 

clear  structureless,  jelly-like  substance  resem« 
bling  albumen  or  white  of  egg.  It  is  made  of 
Carbon,  Hydrogen,  Oxygen  and  Nitrogen.  Its 
name  is  protoplasm.  And  it  is  not  only  the 
structural  unit  with  which  all  living  bodies 
start  in  life,  but  with  which  they  are  subse- 
quently built  up.  "  Protoplasm,"  says  Huxley, 
*'  simple  or  nucleated,  is  the  formal  basis  of  all 
life.  It  is  the  clay  of  the  Potter. '  "Beast 
and  fowl,  reptile  and  fish,  mollusk,  worm  and 
polype  are  all  composed  of  structural  units  of 
the  same  character,  namely,  masses  of  pro- 
toplasm with  nucleus."  l 

What  then  determines  the  difference  between 
different  animals  ?  What  makes  one  little 
speck  of  protoplasm  grow  into  Newton's  dog 
Diamond,  and  another  exactly  the  same,  into 
Newton  himself?  It  is  a  mysterious  some- 
thing which  has  entered  into  this  protoplasm. 
No  eye  can  see  it.  No  science  can  define  it. 
There  is  a  different  something  for  Newton's 
dog  and  a  different  something  for  Newton ;  so 
that  though  both  use  the  same  matter  they 
build  it  up  in  these  widely  different  ways. 
Protoplasm  being  the  clay,  this  something  is 
the  Potter.  And  as  there  is  only  one  clay  and 
yet  all  these  curious  forms  are  developed  out 
of  it,  it  follows  necessarily  that  the  difference 
lies  in  the  potters.  There  must  in  short  be  as 
many  potters  as  there  are  forms.  There  is  the 
potter  who  segments  the  worm,  and  the  potter 
who  builds  up  the  form  of  the  dog,  and  the 

Huxley  :  "  Lay  Sermons,"  6th.  Ed.  pp.  127,129. 


282  CONFORMITY  TO  TYP&. 

potter  who  moulds  the  man.  To  understand 
unmistakably  that  it  is  really  the  potter  who 
does  the  work,  let  us  follow  for  a  moment  a 
description  of  the  process  by  a  trained  eye-wit- 
ness. The  observer  is  Mr.  Huxley.  Through 
the  tube  of  his  microscope  he  is  watching  the 
development,  out  of  a  speck  of  protoplasm,  of 
one  of  the  commonest  animals:  "Strange 
possibilities,"  he  says,  "lie  dormant  in  that 
semi-fluid  globule.  Let  a  moderate  supply  of 
warmth  reach  its  watery  cradle  and  the  plastic 
matter  undergoes  changes  so  rapid  and  yet  so 
steady  and  purposelike  in  their  succession  that 
one  can  only  compare  them  to  those  operated 
by  a  skilled  modeller  upon  a  formless  lump  of 
clay.  As  with  an  invisible  trowel  the  mass  is 
divided  and  subdivided  into  smaller  and  smaller 
portions,  until  it  is  reduced  to  an  aggregation 
of  granules  not  too  large  to  build  withal  the 
finest  fabrics  of  the  nascent  organism.  And, 
then,  it  is  as  if  a  delicate  finger  traced  out  the 
line  to  be  occupied  by  the  spinal  column,  and 
moulded  the  con  tour  of  the  body;  pinching  up 
the  head  at  one  end,  the  tail  at  the  other,  and 
fashioning  flank  and  limb  into  due  proportions 
in  so  artistic  a  way,  that,  after  watching  the 
process  hour  by  hour,  one  is  almost  involun- 
tarily possessed  by  the  notion,  that  some  more 
subtle  aid  to  vision  than  an  achromatic  would 
show  the  hidden  artist,  with  his  plan  before 
him,  striving  with  skilful  manipulation  to 
perfect  his  work."  l 

1  Huxley  5  "  Lay  Sermons,"  6th  Ed.  p.  261. 


CONFORMITY  TO  TYPE.  283 

• 

Besides  the  fact,  so  luminously  brought  out 
here,  that  the  artist  is  distinct  from  the  "  semi- 
fluid globule  "  of  protoplasm  in  which  he  works, 
there  is  this  other  essential  point  to  notice, 
that  in  all  his  "  skilful  manipulation "  the 
artist  is  not  working  at  random,  but  accord- 
ing to  law.  He  has  "  his  plan  1  ^fore  him." 
In  the  zoological  laboratory  of  Nature  it  is 
not  as  in  a  workshop  where  a  skilled  artisan 
can  turn  his  hand  to  anything — where  the 
same  potter  one  day  moulds  a  dog,  the  next  a 
bird,  and  the  next  a  man.  In  Nature  one  pot- 
ter is  set  apart  to  make  each.  It  is  a  more 
complete  system  of  division  of  labor.  One 
artist  makes  all  the  dogs,  another  makes  all 
the  birds,  a  third  makes  all  the  men.  More- 
over, each  artist  confines  himself  exclusively 
to  working  out  his  own  plan.  He  appears  to 
have  his  own  plan  somewhat  stamped  upon 
himself,  and  his  work  is  rigidly  to  reproduce 
himself. 

The  Scientific  Law  by  which  this  takes  place 
is  the  Law  of  Conformity  to  Type.  It  is  con- 
tained, to  a  large  extent,  in  the  ordinary  Law 
of  Inheritance;  or  it  may  be  considered  as 
simply  another  way  of  stating  what  Darwin 
calls  the  Law  of  Unity  of  Type.  Darwin  de- 
fines it  thus:  "By  Unity  of  Type  is  meant 
that  fundamental  agreement  in  structure 
which  we  see  in  organic  beings  of  the  same 
class,  and  which  is  quite  independent  of  their 
habits  of  life." l  According  to  this  law  every 

1 "  Origin  of  Species,"  p.  166. 


284  CONFORMITY  TO  TYPE. 

• 

living  thing  that  comes  into  the  world  is  com- 
pelled to  stamp  upon  its  offspring  the  image 
of  itself.  The  dog,  according  to  its  type,  pro- 
duces a  dog;  the  bird  a  bird. 

The  Artist  who  operates  upon  matter  in  this 
subtle  way  and  carries  out  this  law  is  Life. 
There  are  a  great  many  different  kinds  of  Life. 
If  one  might  give  the  broader  meaning  to  the 
words  of  the  apostle :  "  All  life  is  not  the 
same  life.  There  is  one  kind  of  life  of  men, 
another  life  of  beasts,  another  of  fishes,  and 
another  of  birds."  There  is  the  Life,  or  the 
Artist,  or  the  Potter  who  segments  the  worm, 
the  potter  who  forms  the  dog,  the  potter  who 
moulds  the  man. * 

What  goes  on  then  in  the  animal  kingdom 
is  this — the  Bird-Life  seizes  upon  the  bird- 
germ  and  builds  it  up  into  a  bird,  the  image  of 
itself.  The  Reptile-Life  seizes  upon  another 
germinal  speck,  assimilates  surrounding  mat- 
ter, and  fashions  it  into  a  reptile.  The  Rep- 
tile-Life thus  simply  makes  an  incarnation  of 
itself.  The  visible  bird  is  simply  an  incarna- 
tion of  the  invisible  Bird-Life. 

1  There  is  no  intention  here  to  countenance  the  old 
doctrine  of  the  permanence  of  species.  Whether  the 
word  species  represent  a  fixed  quantity  or  the  reverse 
does  not  affect  the  question.  The  facts  as  stated  are 
true  in  contemporary  zoology  if  not  in  palaeontology. 
It  may  also  be  added  that  the  general  conception  of  a 
definite  Vital  Principle  is  used  here  simply  as  a  working 
hypothesis.  Science  may  yet  have  to  give  up  what  the 
Germans  call  the  "  ontogenetic  directive  Force."  But 
in  the  absence  of  any  proof  to  the  contrary,  and  espe- 
cially of  any  satisfactory  alternative,  we  are  justified  iir 
working  still  with  the  old  theory. 


CONFORMITY  TO  TYPE.  285 

we  are  nearing  the  point  where  the 
spiritual  analogy  appears.  It  is  a  very  won- 
derful analogy,  so  wonderful  that  one  almost 
hesitates  to  put  it  into  words.  Yet  Nature  is 
reverent ;  and  it  is  her  voice  to  which  we  listen. 
These  lower  phenomena  of  life,  she  says,  are 
but  an  allegory.  There  is  another  kind  of 
Life  of  which  Science  as  yet  has  taken  little 
cognizance.  It  obeys  the  same  laws.  It  builds 
up  an  organism  into  its  own  form.  It  is  the 
Christ- Life.  As  the  Bird- Life  builds  up  a  bird, 
the  image  of  itself,  so  the  Christ-Life  builds  up 
a  Christ,  the  image  of  Himself,  in  the  inward 
nature  of  man.  When  a  man  becomes  a  Chris- 
tian the  natural  process  is  this :  The  Living 
Christ  enters  into  his  soul.  Development  be- 
gins. The  quickening  Life  seizes  upon  the 
soul,  assimilates  surrounding  elements,  and 
begins  to  fashion  it.  According  to  the  great 
Law  of  Conformity  to  Type  this  fashioning 
takes  a  specific  form.  It  is  that  of  the  Artist 
who  fashions.  And  all  through  Life  this  won- 
derful, mystical,  glorious,  yet  perfectly  definite 
process  goes  on  "until  Christ  be  formed" 
in  it. 

The  Christian  Life  is  not  a  vague  effort  after 
righteousness — an  ill-defined  pointless  struggle 
for  an  ill-defined  pointless  end.  Religion  is  no 
dishevelled  mass  of  aspiration,  prayer,  and 
faith.  There  is  no  more  mystery  in  Religion 
as  to  its  processes  than  in  Biology.  There  is 
much  mystery  in  Biology.  We  knew  all  but 
nothing  of  Life  yet,  nothing  of  development. 
There  is  the  same  mystery  in  the  spiritual  Life, 


286  CONFORMITY  TO  TYPE. 

But  the  great  lines  are  the  same,  as  decided,  as 
luminous ;  and  the  laws  of  natural  and  spiritual 
are  the  -same,  as  unerring,  as  simple.  Will 
everything  else  in  the  natural  world  unfold  its 
order,  and  yield  to  Science  more  and  more  a 
vision  of  harmony  and  Religion,  which  should 
complement  and 'perfect  all,  remain  a  chaos? 
From  the  standpoint  of  Revelation  no  truth  is 
more  obscure  than  Conformity  to  Type.  If 
Science  can  furnish  a  companion  phenomenon 
from  an  every-day  process  of  the  natural  life, 
it  may  at  least  throw  this  most  mystical  doc- 
trine of  Christianity  into  thinkable  form.  Is 
there  any  fallacy  in  speaking  of  the  Embry- 
ology of  the  New  Life  ?  Is  the  analogy  invalid  ? 
Are  there  not  vital  processes  in  the  Spiritual 
as  well  as  in  the  Natural  world  ?  The  Bird 
being  an  incarnation  of  the  Bird-Life,  may  not 
the  Christian  be  a  spiritual  incarnation  of  the 
Christ-Life  ?  And  is  there  not  a  real  justifi- 
cation in  the  processes  of  the  New  Birth  for 
such  a  parallel  ? 

Let  us  appeal  to  the  record  of  these  pro- 
cesses. 

In  what  terms  does  the  New  Testament 
describe  them?  The  answer  is  sufficiently 
striking.  It  uses  everywhere  the  language  of 
Biology.  It  is  impossible  that  the  New  Testa- 
ment writers  should  have  been  familiar  with 
these  biological  facts.  It  is  impossible  that 
their  views  of  this  great  truth  should  have 
been  as  clear  as  Science  can  make  them  now. 
But  they  had  no  alternative.  There  was  no 
other  way  of  expressing  this  truth.  It  was  a 


CONFORMITY  TO  TYPE.  287 

biological  question.  So  they  struck  out  un- 
hesitatingly into  the  new  field  of  words,  and, 
with  an  originality  which  commands  both 
reverence  and  surprise,  stated  their  truth 
with  such  light,  or  darkness,  as  they  had. 
They  did  not  mean  to  be  scientific,  only  to  be 
accurate,  and  their  fearless  accuracy  has  made 
them  scientific. 

What  could  be  more  original,  for  instance, 
than  the  apostle's  reiteration  that  the  Christian 
was  a  new  creature,  a  new  man,  a  babe  ? l  Or 
that  this  new  man  was  "begotten  of  God," 
God's  workmanship  ? 3  And  what  could  be  a 
more  accurate  expression  of  the  law  of  Con- 
formity to  Type  than  this :  "  Put  on  the  new 
man,  which  is  renewed  in  knowledge  after  the 
image  of  Him  that  created  him  "  ? 8  Or  this, 
"  We  are  changed  into  the  same  image  from 
glory  to  glory"?4  And  elsewhere  we  are 
expressly  told  by  the  same  writer  that  this 
Conformity  is  the  end  and  goal  of  the  Christian 
life.  To  work  this  Type  in  us  is  the  whole 
purpose  of  God  and  man.  "Whom  He  did 
foreknow  He  also  did  predestinate  to  be  con- 
formed to  the  image  of  His  Son."  6 

One  must  confess  that  the  originality  of  this 
entire  New  Testament  conception  is  most 
startling.  Even  for  the  nineteenth  century  it  is 
most  startling.  But  when  one  remembers  that 
such  an  idea  took  form  in  the  first,  he  cannot 
fail  to  be  impressed  with  a  deepening  wonder 

1  2  Cor.  v.  17.  2  1  John  v.  18  ;  1  Pet.  L  a 

8  Col.  lit.  9,  10.  *2  Cor.  iii.  18. 

•  Rom.  vui.  29. 


288  CONFORMITY  TO  TYPE. 

at  the  system  which  begat  and  cherished  it. 
Men  seek  the  origin  of  Christianity  among  the 
philosophies  of  that  age.  Scholars  contrast  it 
still  with  these  philosophies,  and  scheme  to  fit 
it  in  to  those  of  later  growth.  Has  it  never 
occurred  to  them  how  much  more  it  is  than  a 
philosophy,  that  it  includes  a  science,  a  Biology 
pure  and  simple  ?  As  well  might  naturalists 
contrast  zoology  with  chemistry,  or  seek  to  in- 
corporate geology  with  botany — the  living  with 
the  dead — as  try  to  explain  the  spiritual  life 
in  terms  of  mind  alone.  When  will  it  be  seen 
that  the  characteristic  of  the  Christian  Religion 
is  its  Life,  that  a  true  theology  must  begin 
with  a  Biology  ?  Theology  is  the  Science  of 
God.  Why  will  men  treat  God  as  inorganic  ? 

If  this  analogy  is  capable  of  being  worked 
out,  we  should  expect  answers  to  at  least  three 
questions. 

First :  What  corresponds  to  the  protoplasm 
in  the  spiritual  sphere? 

Second :  What  is  the  Life,  the  Hidden  Artist 
who  fashions  it  ? 

Third:  What  do  we  know  of  the  process 
and  the  plan  ? 

First :  The  Protoplasm. 

We  should  be  forsaking  the  lines  of  nature 
were  we  to  imagine  for  a  moment  that  the  new 
creature  was  to  be  formed  out  of  nothing. 
Ex  nihilo  nihil — nothing  can  be  made  out  of 
nothing.  Matter  is  uncreatable  and  indestruc- 
tible; Nature  and  man  can  only  form  and 
transform.  Hence  when  a  new  animal  is  made, 
no  new  clay  is  made.  Life  merely  enters  into 


CONFORMITY  TO  TYPE. 

already  existing  matter,  assimilates  more  of 
the  same  sort  and  rebuilds  it.  The  spiritual 
Artist  works  in  the  same  way.  He  must  have 
a  peculiar  kind  of  protoplasm,  a  basis  of  life, 
and  that  must  be  already  existing. 

Xow  He  finds  this  in  the  materials  of  char- 
acter with  which  the  natural  man  is  previously 
provided.  Mind  and  character,  the  will  and  the 
affections,  the  moral  nature — these  form  the 
bases  of  spiritual  life.  To  look  in  this  direc- 
tion for  the  protoplasm  of  the  spiritual  life  is 
consistent  with  all  analogy.  The  lowest  or 
mineral  world  mainly  supplies  the  material— 
and  this  is  true  even  for  insectivorous  species 
— for  the  vegetable  kingdom.  The  vegetable 
supplies  the  material  for  the  animal.  Next  hi 
turn,  the  animal  furnishes  material  for  the 
mental,  and  lastly,  the  mental  for  the  spiritual. 
Each  member  of  the  series  is  complete  only 
when  the  steps  below  it  are  complete;  the 
highest  demands  all.  It  is  not  necessary  for 
the  immediate  purpose  to  go  so  far  into  the 
psychology  either  of  the  new  creature  or  of  the 
old  as  to  define  more  clearly  what  these  moral 
bases  are.  It  is  enough  to  discover  that  in 
this  womb  the  new  creature  is  to  be  born, 
fashioned  out  of  the  mental  and  moral  parts, 
substance,  or  essence  of  the  natural  man.  The 
only  thing  to  be  insisted  upon  is  that  in  the 
natural  man  this  mental  and  moral  substance 
or  basis  is  spiritually  lifeless.  However  active 
the  intellectual  or  moral  life  may  be,  from  the 
point  of  view  jf  *,his  other  Life  it  is  dead. 
That  which  is  flesh  is  flesh.  It  wants,  that  is 
19 


290  CONFORMITY  TO  TYPE. 

to  say,  the  kind  of  Life  which  constitutes  the 
difference  between  the  Christian  and  the  not-a- 
Christian.  It  has  not  yet  been  "  born  of  the 
Spirit." 

To  show  further  that  this  protoplasm  pos- 
sesses  the  necessary  properties  of  a  normal 
protoplasm  it  will  be  necessary  to  examine  in 
passing  what  these  properties  are.  They  are 
two  in  number,  the  capacity  for  life  and  plas- 
ticity. Consider  first  the  capacity  for  life.  It 
is  not  enough  to  find  an  adequate  supply  of 
material.  That  material  must  be  of  the  right 
kind.  For  all  kinds  of  matter  have  not  the 
power  to  be  the  vehicle  of  life — all  kinds  of 
matter  are  not  even  fitted  to  be  the  vehicle  of 
electricity.  What  peculiarity  there  is  in  Car- 
bon, Hydrogen,  Oxygen,  and  Nitrogen,  when 
combined  in  a  ;ertain  way,  to  receive  life,  we 
cannot  tell.  Te  only  know  that  life  is  always 
associated  in  N  tur  with  this  particular  phys- 
ical basis  an  ever  with  any  other.  But  we 
are  not  in  th  same  darkness  with  regard 
to  the  moral  protoplasm.  When  we  look  at 
this  complex  combination  which  we  have  predi- 
cated as  the  basis  of  spiritual  life,  we  do  find 
something  which  gives  it  a  peculiar  qualifi- 
cation for  being  the  protoplasm  of  the  Christ- 
Life.  We  discover  one  strong  reason  at  least, 
not  only  why  this  kind  of  life  should  be  asso- 
ciated with  this  kind  of  protoplasm,  but  why 
it  should  never  be  associated  with  other  kinda 
which  seem  to  resemble  it — why,  for  instance, 
this  spiritual  life  should  not  be  engrafted  upon 
the  intelligence  of  a  dog  or  the  instinct  of  an  ant. 


CONFORMITY  TO  TYPE.  291 

The  protoplasm  in  man  has  a  something  in 
addition  to  its  instincts  or  its  habits.  It  has  a 
capacity  for  God.  In  this  capacity  for  God  lies 
its  receptivity;  it  is  the  very  protoplasm  that 
was  necessary.  The  chamber  is  not  only 
ready  to  receive  the  new  Life,  but  the  Guest  is 
expected,  and,  till  He  comes,  is  missed.  Till 
then  the  soul  longs  and  yearns,  wastes  and 
pines,  waving  its  tentacles  piteously  in  the 
empty  air,  feeling  after  God  if  so  be  that  it 
may  find  Him.  This  is  not  peculiar  to  the 
protoplasm  of  the  Christian's  soul.  In  every 
land  and  in  every  age  there  have  been  altars 
to  the  Known  or  Unknown  God.  It  is  now 
agreed  as  a  mere  question  of  anthropology  that 
the  universal  language  of  the  human  soul  haa 
always  been  "  I  perish  with  hunger."  This  is 
what  fits  it  for  Christ.  There  is  a  grandeur  in 
this  cry  from  the  depths  which  makes  its  very 
unhappiness  sublime. 

The  other  quality  we  are  to  look  for  in  the 
soul  is  mouldableness,  plasticity.  Conformity 
demands  conforrnability.  Now  plasticity  is 
not  only  a  marked  characteristic  of  all  forms  of 
life,  but  in  a  special  sense  of  the  highest  forms. 
It  increases  steadily  as  we  rise  in  the  scale. 
The  inorganic  world,  to  begin  with,  is  rigid. 
A  crystal  of  silica  dissolved  and  redissolved  a 
thousand  times  will  never  assume  any  other 
form  than  the  hexagonal.  The  plant  next, 
though  plastic  in  its  elements,  is  comparatively 
insusceptible  of  change.  The  very  fixity  of  its 
sphere,  the  imprisonment  for  life  in  a  single 
spot  of  earth,  is  the  symbol  of  a  certain  degra- 


U92  CONFORMITY  TO  TYPE. 

Nation.  The  animal  in  all  its  parts  is  mobile, 
sensitive,  free  ;  the  highest  aniui  ,1,  man,  is  the 
most  mobile,  the  most  at  1  isurt  from  routine, 
the  most  impressioiable,  the  most  open  for 
•change.  And  when  we  reach  the  mind  and 
soul,  this  mobility  is  found  in  its  most  de- 
veloped form.  Whether  we  regard  its  sus- 
ceptibility to  impressions,  its  lightning-like  re- 
sponse even  to  influences  the  most  impalpable 
•and  subtle,  its  power  of  instantaneous  adjust- 
ment, or  whether  we  regard  the  delicacy  and 
variety  of  its  moods,  or  its  vast  powers  of 
growth,  we  are  forced  to  recognize  in  this  the 
most  perfect  capacity  for  change.  The  mar- 
•vellous  plasticity  of  mind  contains  at  once  the 
possibility  and  prophecy  of  its  transformation. 
"The  soul,  in  a  word,  is  made  to  be  converted. 

Second,  the  Life. 

The  main  reason  for  giving  the  Life,  the 
;agent  of  this  change,  a  separate  treatment,  is 
to  emphasize  the  distinction  between  it .  nd  the 
natural  man  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  spiritual 
man  on  the  other.  The  natural  man  is  its 
basis,  the  spiritual  man  is  its  product,  the  Life 
itself  is  something  different.  Just  as  in  an  or- 
ganism we  have  these  three  things — formative 
matter,  formed  matter,  and  the  forming  prin- 
ciple or  life ;  so  in  the  soul  we  have  th°  old 
nature,  the  renewed  nature,  and  the  transform- 
ing Life. 

This  being  made  evident,  little  remains  here 
to  be  added.  No  man  has  ever  seen  this  Life. 
Jt  cannot  be  analyzed,  or  weighed,  or  traced  in 
its  essential  nature.  But  this  is  just  what  we 


CONFORMITY  TO  TYPE.  29* 

expected.  This  invisibility  is  the  same  prop- 
erty which  we  found  to  be  peculiar  to  the  nat- 
ural life.  We  saw  no  life  in  the  first  embryos,, 
in  oak,  in  palm,  or  in  bird.  In.  the  adult  it 
likewise  escapes  us.  We  shall  not  wonder  if 
we  cannot  see  it  in  the  Christian.  We  shall 
not  expect  to  see  it.  A  fortiori  we  shall  not 
expect  to  see  it,  for  we  are  further  removed 
from  the  coarser  matter — moving  now  among1 
ethereal  and  spiritual  things.  It  is  because  it 
conforms  to  the  law  of  this  analogy  so  well 
that  men,  not  seeing  it,  have  denied  its  being. 
Is  it  hopeless  to  point  out  that  one  of  the  most 
recognizable  characteristics  of  life  is  its  un- 
recognizableness,  and  that  the  very  token  of 
its  spiritual  nature  lies  in  its  being  beyond  the 
grossness  of  our  eyes  ? 

We  do  not  pretend  that  Science  can  define 
this  Life  to  be  Christ.  It  has  no  definition  to 
give  even  of  its  own  life,  much  less  of  this. 
But  there  are  converging  lines  which  point, 
at  least,  in  the  direction  that  it  is  Christ. 
There  was  One  whom  history  acknowledges 
to  have  been  the  Truth.  One  of  His  claims 
was  this,  "  I  am  the  Life."  According  to  the 
doctrine  of  Biogenesis,  life  can  only  come  from 
life.  It  was  His  additional  claim  that  His- 
function  in  the  world  was  to  give  men  Life. 
"  I  am  come  that  ye  might  have  Life,  and  that 
ye  might  have  it  more  abundantly."  This 
could  not  refer  to  the  natural  life,  for  men  had 
that  already.  He  that  hath  the  Son  hath  an- 
other Life.  "  Know  ye  not  your  own  selves 
how  that  Jesus  Christ  is  in  you," 


294  CONFOEM1TY  TO  TYPE. 

Again,  there  are  men  whose  characters  a*. 
Bume  a  strange  resemblance  to  Him  who  was 
the  Life.  When  we  see  the  bird-character  ap- 
pear in  an  organism  we  assume  that  the  Bird- 
Life  has  been  there  at  work.  And  when  we 
behold  Conformity  to  Type  in  a  Christian,  and 
know  moreover  that  the  type-organization  can 
be  produced  by  the  type-life  alone,  does  this 
not  lend  support  to  the  hypothesis  that  the 
Type- Life  also  has  been  here  at  work?  If 
every  effect  demands  a  cause,  what  other 
cause  is  there  for  the  Christian?  When  we 
have  a  cause,  and  an  adequate  cause,  and  no 
other  adequate  cause ;  when  we  have  the  ex- 
press statement  of  that  Cause  that  he  is  that 
cause,  what  more  is  possible  ?  Let  not  Science, 
knowing  nothing  of  its  own  life,  go  further 
than  to  say  it  knows  nothing  of  this  Life. 
We  shall  not  dissent  from  its  silence.  But 
till  it  tells  us  what  it  is,  we  wait  for  evidence 
that  it  is  not  this. 

Third,  the  Process. 

It  is  impossible  to  enter  at  length  into  any 
details  of  the  great  miracle  by  which  this  pro- 
toplasm is  to  be  conformed  to  the  Image  of  the 
Son.  We  enter  that  province  now  only  so  far 
as  this  Law  of  Conformity  compels  us.  Xor 
is  it  so  much  the  nature  of  the  process  we  have 
to  consider  as  its  general  direction  and  results. 
We  are  dealing  with  a  question  of  morphology 
rather  than  of  physiology. 

It  must  occur  to  one  on  reaching  this  point, 
that  a  new  element  here  comes  in  which  com- 
pels us,  for  the  moment,  to  part  company  with 


CONFORMITY  TO  TYPE.  295 

zoology.  That  element  is  the  conscious  power 
of  choice.  The  animal  in  following  the  type 
is  blind.  It  does  not  only  follow  the  type 
involuntarily  and  compulsorily,  but  does  not 
know  that  it  is  following  it.  We  might  cer- 
tainly have  been  made  to  conform  to  the  Type 
in  the  higher  sphere  with  no  more  knowledge 
or  power  of  choice  than  animals  or  automata. 
But  then  we  should  not  have  been  men.  It  ia 
a  possible  case,  but  not  possible  to  the  kind  of 
protoplasm  with  which  men  are  furnished. 
Owing  to  the  peculiar  characteristics  of  this 
protoplasm  an  additional  and  exceptional  pro- 
vision is  essential. 

The  first  demand  is  that  being  conscious  and 
having  this  power  of  choice,  the  mind  should 
have  an  adequate  knowledge  of  what  it  is  to 
choose.  Some  revelation  of  the  Type,  that  is 
to  say,  is  necessary.  And  as  that  revelation 
can  only  come  from  the  Type,  we  must  look 
there  for  it. 

We  are  confronted  at  once  with  the  Incar- 
nation. There  we  find  how  the  Christ-Life 
has  clothed  Himself  with  matter,  taking  literal 
flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us.  The  Incarnation 
is  the  Life  revealing  the  Type.  Men  are  long 
since  agreed  that  this  is  the  end  of  the  Incarna- 
tion— the  revealing  of  God.  But  why  should 
God  be  revealed  ?  Why,  indeed,  but  for  man  ? 
Why  but  that  "beholding  as  in  a  glass  the 
glory  of  the  only  begotten  we  should  be 
changed  into  the  same  Image  "  ? 

To  meet  the  power  of  choice,  however,  some- 
thing more  was  necessary  than  the  mere  reve- 


CONFORMITY  TO  TYPE. 

Jation  of  the  Type — it  was  necessary  that  the 
Type  should  be  the  highest  conceivable  Type. 
In  other  words,  the  Type  must  be  an  Ideal.  For 
•all  true  human  growth,  effort,  and  achievement, 
an  ideal  is  acknowledged  to  be  indispensable. 
And  all  men  accordingly  whose  lives  are  based 
on  principle,  have  set  themselves  an  ideal,  more 
or  less  perfect.  It  is  this  which  first  deflects 
the  will  from  what  is  base,  and  turns  the  way- 
ward life  to  what  is  holy.  So  much  is  true  as 
mere  philosophy.  But  philosophy  failed  to  pre- 
sent men  with  their  ideal.  It  has  never  been 
suggested  that  Christianity  has  failed.  Be- 
lievers and  unbelievers  have  been  compelled  to 
acknowledge  that  Christianity  holds  up  to  the 
world  the  missing  Type,  the  Perfect  Man. 

The  recognition  of  the  Ideal  is  the  first  step 
in  the  direction  of  Conformity.  But  let  it  be 
«learly  observed  that  it  is  but  a  step.  There 
is  no  vital  connection  between  merely  seeing 
the  Ideal  and  being  conformed  to  it.  Thou- 
sands admire  Christ  who  never  become  Chris- 
tians. 

But  the  great  question  still  remains,  How  is 
the  Christian  to  be  conformed  to  the  Type,  or 
as  we  should  now  say,  dealing  with  conscious- 
ness, to  the  Ideal?  The  mere  knowledge  of 
the  Ideal  is  no  more  than  a  motive.  How  is 
the  process  to  be  practically  accomplished? 
Who  is  to  do  it  ?  Where,  when,  how  ?  This 
is  the  test  question  of  Christianity.  It  is  here 
that  all  theories  of  Christianity,  all  attempts 
to  explain  it  on  natural  principles,  all  reduc- 
tions of  it  to  philosophy,  inevitably  break  down. 


CONFORMITY  TO  TYPE.  297 

It  is  here  that  all  imitations  of  Christianity 
perish.  It  is  here,  also,  that  personal  religion 
finds  its  most  fatal  obstacle.  Men  are  all  quite 
clear  about  the  Ideal.  We  are  all  convinced 
of  the  duty  of  mankind  regarding  it.  But  how 
to  secure  that  willing  men  shall  attain  it — that 
is  the  problem  of  religion.  It  is  the  failure  to 
understand  the  dynamics  of  Christianity  that 
has  most  seriously  and  most  pitifully  hindered 
its  growth  both  in  the  individual  and  in  the 
race. 

From  the  standpoint  of  biology  this  practical 
difficulty  vanishes  in  a  moment.  It  is  probably 
the  very  simplicity  of  the  law  regarding  it  that 
has  made  men  stumble.  For  nothing  is  so  in- 
visible to  most  men  as  transparency.  The  law 
here  is  the  same  biological  law  that  exists  in 
the  natural  world.  For  centuries  men  have 
striven  to  find  out  ways  and  means  to  conform 
themselves  to  this  type.  Impressive  motives 
have  been  pictured,  the  proper  circumstances 
arranged,  the  direction  of  effort  defined,  and 
men  have  toiled,  struggled,  and  agonized  to 
conform  themselves  to  the  Image  of  the  Son. 
Can  the  protoplasm  conform  itself  to  its  type  ? 
Can  the  embryo  fashion  itself?  Is  Conformity 
to  Type  produced  by  the  matter  or  by  the  life, 
by  the  protoplasm  or  by  the  Type  ?  Is  organi- 
zation the  cause  of  life  or  the  effect  of  it?  It 
is  the  effect  of  it.  Conformity  to  Type,  there- 
fore, is  secured  by  the  type.  Christ  makes  the 
Christian. 

Men  need  only  to  reflect  on  the  automatic 
processes  of  their  natural  body  to  discover  that 


298  CONFORMITY  TO  TYPE. 

this  is  the  universal  law  of  Life.  "What  does 
any  man  consciously  do,  for  instance,  in  the 
matter  of  breathing  ?  What  part  does  he  take 
in  circulating  the  blood,  in  keeping  up  the 
rhythm  of  his  heart?  What  control  has  he 
over  growth  ?  What  man  by  taking  thought 
can  add  a  cubit  to  his  stature?  What  part 
voluntarily  does  man  take  in  secretion,  in  di- 
gestion, in  the  reflex  actions  ?  In  point  of  fact 
is  he  not  after  all  the  veriest  automaton,  every 
organ  of  his  body  given  him,  every  function 
arranged  for  him,  brain  and  nerve,  thought 
and  sensation,  will  and  conscience,  all  provided 
for  him  ready  made  ?  And  yet  he  turns  upon 
his  soul  and  wishes  to  organize  that  himself !  O 
preposterous  and  vain  man,  thou  who  couldest 
not  make  a  finger  nail  of  thy  body,  thinkest 
thou  to  fashion  this  wonderful,  mysterious, 
subtle  soul  of  thine  after  the  ineffable  Image  ? 
Wilt  thou  ever  permit  thyself  to  be  conformed 
to  the  Image  of  the  Son?  Wilt  thou,  who 
canst  not  add  a  cubit  to  thy  stature,  submit  to 
be  raised  by  the  Type- Life  within  thee  to  the 
perfect  stature  of  Christ  ? 

This  is  a  humbling  conclusion.  And  there- 
fore men  will  resent  it.  Men  will  still  experi- 
ment "  by  works  of  righteousness  which  they 
have  done"  to  earn  the  Ideal  life.  The  doc- 
trine of  Human  Inability,  as  the  Church  calls 
it,  has  always  been  objectionable  to  men  who 
do  not  know  themselves.  The  doctrine  itself, 
perhaps,  has  been  partly  to  blame.  While  it 
has  been  often  affirmed  in  such  language  as 
rightly  to  humble  men,  it  has  also  been  stated 


CONFORMITY  TO  TYPE.  '299 

and  cast  in  their  teeth  with  words  which  could 
only  insult  them.  Merely  to  assert  dogmati- 
cally that  man  has  no  power  to  move  hand  or 
foot  to  help  himself  toward  Christ,  carries  no 
real  conviction.  The  weight  of  human  author- 
ity is  always  powerless,  and  ought  to  be  where 
the  intelligence  is  denied  a  rationale.  In  the 
light  of  modern  science  when  men  seek  a  reason 
for  every  thought  of  God  or  man,  this  old  doc- 
trine \vith  its  severe  and  almost  inhuman  as- 
pect— till  rightly  understood — must  presently 
have  succumbed.  But  to  the  biologist  it  can- 
not die.  It  stands  to  him  on  the  solid  ground 
of  Nature.  It  has  a  reason  in  the  laws  of  life 
which  must  resuscitate  it  and  give  it  another 
lease  of  years.  Bird-Life  makes  the  Bird. 
Christ-Life  makes  the  Christian.  No  man  by 
taking  thought  can  add  a  cubit  to  his  stature. 
So  much  for  the  scientific  evidence.  Here  is 
the  corresponding  statement  of  the  truth  from 
Scripture.  Observe  the  passive  voice  in  these 
sentences  :  "  -Begotten  of  God ; "  "  The  new 
man  which  is  renewed  in  knowledge  after  the 
Image  of  Him  that  created  him  ; "  or  this,  "  We 
are  changed  into  the  same  Image;"  or  this-, 
"  Predestinate  to  be  conformed  to  the  Image  of 
His  Son;"  or  again,  "Until  Christ  be  formed 
in  you ; "  or,  "  Except  a  man  be  born  again  he 
cannot  see  the  Kingdom  of  God  ;  *'  "  Except  a 
man  be  born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit  he  can- 
not enter  the  Kingdom  of  God."  There  is  one 
outstanding  verse  which  seems  at  first  sight 
on  the  other  side :  "  Work  out  your  own  sal- 
vation with  fear  and  trembling ; "  but  as  one 


300  CONFORMITY  TO  TYPE. 

reads  on  he  finds,  as  if  the  writer  dreaded  the 
very  misconception,  the  complement,  "  For  it 
is  God  which  worketh  in  you  both  to  will  and 
to  do  of  His  good  pleasure." 

It  will  be  noticed  in  these  passages,  and  in 
others  which  might  be  named,  that  the  process 
of  transformation  is  referred  indifferently  to 
the  agency  of  each  Person  of  the  Trinity  in 
turn.  We  are  not  concerned  to  take  up  this 
question  of  detail.  It  is  sufficient  that  the 
transformation  is  wrought. 

Theologians,  however,  distinguish  thus :  the 
indirect  agent  is  Christ,  the  direct  influence  is 
the  Holy  Spirit.  In  other  words,  Christ  by 
His  Spirit  renews  the  souls  of  men. 

Is  man,  then,  out  of  the  arena  altogether? 
Is  he  mere  clay  in  the  hands  of  the  potter, 
a  machine,  a  tool,  an  automaton  ?  Yes  and  ISTo. 
If  he  were  a  tool  he  would  not  be  a  man.  If 
he  were  a  man  he  would  have  something  to  do» 
One  need  not  seek  to  balance  what  God  does 
here,  and  what  man  does.  But  we  shall  attain 
to  a  sufficient  measure  of  truth  on  a  most  deli- 
cate problem  if  we  make  a  final  appeal  to  the 
natural  life.  We  find  that  in  maintaining  this 
natural  life  Nature  has  a  share  and  man  has  a 
share.  By  far  the  larger  part  is  done  for  us — 
the  breathing,  the  secreting,  the  circulating,, 
of  the  blood,  the  building  up  of  the  organism. 
And  although  the  part  which  man  plays  is 
a  minor  part,  yet,  strange  to  say,  it  is  not  less 
essential  to  the  well-being,  and  even  to  the 
being  of  the  whole.  For  instance,  man  has  to 
take  food.  He  has  nothing  to  do  with  it  aftel 


CONFORMITY  TO  TYPE.  301 

he  has  once  taken  it,  for  the  moment  it  passes 
his  lips  it  is  taken  in  hand  by  reflex  actions 
and  handed  on  from  one  organ  to  another,  his 
control  over  it,  in  the  natural  course  of  things, 
being  completely  lost.  But  the  initial  act  was 
his.  And  without  that  nothing  could  have 
been  done.  Now  whether  there  be  an  exact 
analogy  between  the  voluntary  and  involuntary 
functions  in  the  body,  and  the  corresponding 
processes  in  the  soul,  we  do  not  at  present 
inquire.  But  this  will  indicate,  at  least,  that 
man  has  his  own  part  to  play.  Let  him  choose 
Life ;  let  him  daily  nourish  his  soul ;  let  him 
forever  starve  the  old  life ;  let  him  abide  con- 
tinuously as  a  living  branch  in  the  Vine,  and 
the  True- Vine  Life  will  flow  into  his  soul ;  as- 
similating, renewing,  conforming  to  Type,  till 
Christ,  pledged  by  His  own  law,  be  formed  in 
him. 

"We  have  been  dealing  with  Christianity  at 
its  most  mystical  point.  Mark  here  once  more 
its  absolute  naturalness.  The  pursuit  of  the 
Type  is  just  what  all  Nature  is  engaged  in. 
Plant  and  insect,  fish  and  reptile,  bird  and 
mammal — these  in  their  several  spheres  are 
striving  after  the  Type.  To  prevent  its  extinc- 
tion, to  ennoble  it,  to  people  earth  and  sea  and 
sky  with  it ;  this  is  the  meaning  of  the  Struggle 
for  Life.  And  this  is  our  life — to  pursue  the 
Type,  to  populate  the  world  with  it. 

Our  religion  is  not  all  a  mistake.  We  are 
not  visionaries.  We  are  not  "  unpractical," 
as  men  pronounce  us,  when  we  worship.  To 
try  to  follow  Christ  is  not  to  be  "righteous 


£i02  CONFORMITY  TO  TYPE. 

overmuch."  True  men  are  not  rhapsodizing 
when  they  preach ;  nor  do  those  waste  their 
lives  who  waste  themselves  in  striving  to 
extend  the  Kingdom  of  God  on  earth.  This 
is  what  life  is  for.  The  Christian  in  his  life-aim 
is  in  strict  line  with  Nature.  What  men  call 
his  supernatural  is  quite  natural. 

Mark  well  also  the  splendor  of  this  idea  of 
salvation.  It  is  not  merely  final  "  safety,"  to 
be  forgiven  sin,  to  evade  the  curse.  It  is  not, 
vaguely,  "  to  get  to  heaven."  It  is  to  be  con- 
formed to  the  Image  of  the  Son.  It  is  for  these 
poor  elements  to  attain  to  the  Supreme  Beauty. 
The  organizing  Life  being  Eternal,  so  must 
this  Beauty  be  immortal.  Its  progress  towards 
the  Immaculate  is  already  guaranteed.  And 
more  than  all  there  is  here  fulfilled  the  sub- 
limest  of  all  prophecies ;  not  Beauty  alone  but 
Unity  is  secured  by  the  type — Unity  of  man 
and  man,  God  and  man,  God  and  Christ  and 
man,  till  "  all  shall  be  one." 

Could  Science  in  its  most  brilliant  anticipa- 
tions for  the  future  of  its  highest  organism 
ever  have  foreshadowed  a  development  like 
this  ?  Now  that  the  revelation  is  made  to  it, 
it  surely  recognizes  it  as  the  missing  point  in 
Evolution,  the  climax  to  which  all  Creation 
tends.  Hi  herto  Evolution  had  no  future.  It 
was  a  pillar  with  marvellous  carving,  growing 
richer  and  finer  towards  the  top,  but  without 
a  capital;  a  pyramid,  the  vast  base  buried  in 
the  inorganic,'  towering  higher  and  higher,  tier 
above  tier,  life  above  life,  mind  above  mind,  ever 
more  perfect  in  its  workmanship,  more  noble 


CONFORMITY  TO  TYPE.  303 

in  its  symmetry,  and  yet  withal  so  much  the 
more  mysterious  in  its  aspiration.  The  most 
curious  eye,  following  it  upwards,  saw  nothing. 
The  cloud  fell  and  covered  it.  Just  what  men 
wanted  to  see  was  hid.  The  work  of  the  ages 
had  no  apex.  But  the  work  begun  by  Nature 
is  finished  by  the  Sup  rnatural — as  we  are  wont 
to  call  the  higher  natural.  And  s  the  veil  is 
lifted  by  Christianity  it  strikes  men  dumb  with 
wonder.  For  the  goal  of  Evolution  is  Jesus 
Christ. 

The  Christian  life  is  the  only  life  that  will 
ever  be  completed.  Apart  from  Christ  the  life 
of  man  is  a  broken  pillar,  the  race  of  Men  an 
unfinished  pyramid.  One  by  one  in  sight  of 
Eternity  all  human  Ideals  fall  short,  one  by  one 
before  the  open  grave  all  human  hopes  dissolve. 
The  Laureate  sees  a  moment's  light  in  Nature's 
jealousy  for  the  Type ;  but  that  too  vanishes. 

"  '  So  careful  of  the  type  ? '  but  no, 
From  scarped  cliff  and  quarried  stone 
She  cries,  '  A  thousand  types  are  gone  ; 
I  care  for  nothing,  all  shall  go.' '' 

All  shall  go?  No,  one  Type  remains.  "Whom 
He  did  foreknow  He  also  did  predestinate  to 
be  conformed  to  the  Image  of  His  Son."  And 
"when  Christ  who  is  our  life  shall  appear, 
than  shall  ye  also  appear  with  Him  in  glory." 


SEMI-PABASITISM. 


"  The  Situation  that  has  not  its  Duty,  its  Ideal,  was 
never  yet  occupied  by  man.  Yes,  here,  in  this  poor, 
miserable,  hampered,  despicable  Actual,  wherein 
thou  even  now  standest,  here  or  nowhere  is  thy  Ideal: 
work  it  out  therefrom,  and  working,  believe,  live,  be 
free."  CJLRLYLE. 


SEMI-PARASITISM. 

"Work  out  your  own  salvation." — Paul. 

"  Any  new  set  of  conditions  occurring  to  an  animal 
which  render  its  food  and  safety  very  easily  attained, 
eeem  to  lead  as  a  rule  to  degeneration." — E.  Bay  Lan- 
kester. 

PARASITES  are  the  paupers  of  Nature.  They 
are  forms  of  life  which  will  not  take  the 
trouble  to  find  their  own  food,  but  borrow  or 
steal  it  from  the  more  industrious.  So  deep- 
rooted  is  this  tendency  in  Nature,  that  plants 
may  become  parasitic — it  is  an  acquired  habit 
— as  well  as  animals ;  and  both  are  found  in 
every  state  of  beggary,  some  doing  a  little  for 
themselves,  while  others,  more  abject,  refuse 
even  to  prepare  their  own  food. 

There  are  certain  plants — the  Dodder,  for 
instance — which  begin  life  with  the  best  inten- 
tions, strike  true  roots  into  the  soil,  and  really 
appear  as  if  they  meant  to  be  independent  for 
life.  But  after  supporting  themselves  for  a 
brief  period  they  fix  curious  sucking  discs  into 
the  stem  and  branches  of  adjacent  plants. 
And  after  a  little  experimenting,  the  epiphyte 
finally  ceases  to  do  anything  for  its  own  sup- 
port, thenceforth  drawing  all  its  supplies 
ready-made  from  the  sap  of  its  host.  In  this 
parasitic  state  it  has  no  need  for  organs  of 


308  SEMI-PARASITISM. 

nutrition  of  its  own,  and  Nature  therefore 
takes  them  away.  Henceforth,  to  the  botanist, 
the  adult  Dodder  presents  the  degraded  spec- 
tacle of  a  plant  without  a  root,  without  a  twig, 
without  a  leaf,  and  having  a  stem  so  useless  as 
to  be  inadequate  to  bear  its  own  weight. 

In  the  Mistletoe  the  parasitic  habit  has 
reached  a  stage  in  some  respects  lower  still. 
It  has  persisted  in  the  downward  course  for  so 
many  generations  that  the  young  forms  even 
have  acquired  the  habit  and  usually  begin  life 
at  once  as  parasites.  The  Mistletoe  berries, 
which  contain  the  seed  of  the  future  plant,  are 
•developed  specially  to  minister  to  this  degen- 
eracy, for  they  glue  themselves  to  the  branches 
•of  some  neighboring  oak  or  apple,  and  there 
the  young  Mistletoe  starts  as  a  dependent  from 
the  first. 

Among  animals  these  lazzaroni  are  more 
largely  represented  still.  Almost  every  ani- 
mal is  a  living  poor-house,  and  harbors  one 
•or  more  species  of  epizoa  or  entozoa,  supplying 
them  gratis,  not  only  with  a  permanent  home, 
but  with  all  the  necessaries  and  luxuries  of  life. 

Why  does  the  naturalist  think  hardly  of  the 
parasites  ?  Why  does  he  speak  of  them  as  de- 
graded, and  despise  them  as  the  most  ignoble 
creatures  in  Nature?  What  more  can  an  ani- 
mal do  than  eat,  drink,  and  die  to-morrow? 
If  under  the  fostering  care  and  protection  of  a 
higher  organism  it  can  eat  better,  drink  more 
easily,  live  more  merrily,  and  die,  perhaps  not 
until  the  day  after,  why  should  it  not  do  so  ? 
Is  parasitism,  after  all,  not  a  somewhat  clever 


SEMI-PARASITISM. 

ruse  ?  Is  it  not  an  ingenious  way  of  securing 
the  benefits  of  life  while  evading  its  responsi- 
bilities? And  although  this  mode  of  liveli- 
hood is  selfish,  and  possibly  undignified,  can  it 
be  said  that  it  is  immoral  ? 

The  naturalist's  reply  to  this  is  brief.  Para- 
sitism, he  will  say,  is  one  of  the  gravest  crimes 
in  Nature.  It  is  a  breach  of  the  law  of  Evo- 
lution. Thou  shalt  evolve,  thou  shalt  develop 
all  thy  faculties  to  the  full,  thou  shalt  attain 
to  the  highest  conceivable  perfection  of  thy 
race — and  so  perfect  thy  race — this  is  the  first 
and  greatest  commandment  of  Nature.  But 
the  parasite  has  no  thought  for  its  race,  or  for 
perfection  in  any  sliape  or  form.  It  wants  two 
things — food  and  shelter.  How  it  gets  them 
is  of  no  moment.  Each  member  lives  exclu- 
sively on  its  own  account,  an  isolated,  indolent, 
selfish,  and  backs  ding  life. 

The  remarkabl  thing  is  that  Nature  permits 
the  community  to  be  taxed  in  this  way  appar- 
ently without  protest.  For  the  parasite  is  a 
consumer  pure  and  simple.  And  the  "  Perfect 
Economy  of  Nature  "  is  surely  for  once  at  fault 
when  it  encourages  species  numbered  by  thou- 
sands which  produce  nothing  for  their  own  or 
for  the  general  good.,  but  live,  and  live  luxur- 
iously, at  the  expense  f  others  ? 

Now  when  we  look  into  the  matter,  we  very 
soon  perceive  that  instead  of  secretly  coun- 
tenancing this  ingenious  device  by  which 
parasitic  animals  and  plants  evade  the  great 
law  of  the  Struggle  for  Life,  Nature  sets  her 
face  most  sternly  against  it  And,  instead  oi 


31G  SEMI-PARASITISM. 

allowing  the  transgressors  to  slip  through  her 
fingers,  as  one  might  at  first  suppose,  she 
visits  upon  them  the  most  severe  and  terrible 
penalties.  The  parasite,  she  argues,  not  only 
injures  itself,  but  wrongs  others.  It  disobeys 
the  fundamental  law  of  its  own  being,  and  taxes 
the  innocent  to  contribute  to  its  disgrace.  So 
that  if  Nature  is  just,  if  Nature  has  an  aveng- 
ing hand,  if  she  holds  one  vial  of  wrath  more 
full  and  bitter  than  another,  it  shall  surely  be 
poured  out  upon  those  who  are  guilty  of  this 
double  sin.  Let  us  see  what  form  this  punish- 
ment takes. 

Observant  visitors  to  the  sea-side,  or  let  us 
say  to  an  aquarium,  are  familiar  with  those 
curious  little  creatures  known  as  Hermit- 
crabs.  The  peculiarity  of  the  Hermits  is  that 
they  take  up  their  abode  in  the  cast-off  shell 
of  some  other  animal,  not  unusually  the  whelk ; 
and  here,  like  Diogenes  in  his  tub,  the  creature 
lives  a  solitarv,  but  by  no  means  an  inactive 
life. 

The  Pagurus,  however,  is  not  a  parasite. 
And  yet  although  in  no  sense  of  the  word  a 
parasite,  this  way  of  inhabiting  throughout 
life  a  house  built  by  another  animal  approaches 
so  closely  the  parasitic  habit,  that  we  shall 
find  it  instructive  as  a  preliminary  illustration, 
to  consider  the  effect  of  this  free-house  policy 
on  the  occupant.  There  is  no  doubt,  to  begin 
with,  that,  as  has  been  already  indicated,  the 
habit  is  an  acquired  one.  In  its  general  an- 
atomy the  Hermit  is  essentially  a  crab.  Now 
the  crab  is  an  animal  which,  from  the  nature 


SEMI-PARA  SITISM.  311 

of  its  environment,  has  to  lead  a  somewhat 
rough  and  perilous  life.  Its  days  are  spent 
amongst  jagged  rocks  and  boulders.  Dashed 
about  by  every  wave,  attacked  on  every  side 
by  monsters  of  the  deep,  the  crustacean  has  to 
protect  itself  by  developing  a  strong  and  ser- 
viceable coat  of  mail. 

How  best  to  protect  themselves  has  been 
the  problem  to  which  the  whole  crab  family 
have  addressed  themselves  ;  and,  in  considering 
the  matter,  the  ancestors  of  the  Hermit-crab 
hit  on  the  happy  device  of  re-utilizing  the 
habitations  of  the  molluscs  which  lay  around 
them  in  plenty,  well-built,  and  ready  for  im- 
mediate occupation.  For  generations  and  gen- 
erations accordingly,  the  Hermit-crab  has 
ceased  to  exercise  itself  upon  questions  of  safety, 
and  dwells  in  its  little  shell  as  proudly  and 
securely  as  if  its  second-hand  house  were  a 
fortress  erected  especially  for  its  private  use. 

Wherein,  then,  has  the  Hermit  suffered  for 
this  cheap,  but  real  solution  of  a  practical 
difficulty  ?  Whether  its  laziness  costs  it  any 
moral  qualms,  or  whether  its  cleverness  be- 
comes to  it  a  source  of  congratulation,  we  do 
not  know ;  but  judged  from  the  appearance 
the  animal  makes  under  the  searching  gaze  of 
the  zoologist,  its  expedient  is  certainly  not  one 
to  be  commended.  To  the  eye  of  Science  its 
sin  is  written  in  the  plainest  characters  on  its 
very  organization.  It  has  suffered  in  its  own 
anatomical  structure  just  by  as  much  as  it  has 
borrowed  from  an  external  source.  Instead 
of  being  a  perfect  crustacean  it  has  allowed 


312  SEMI-PARASITISM. 

certain  important  parts  of  its  body  to  deteri- 
orate. And  several  vital  organs  are  partially 
or  wholly  atrophied. 

Its  sphere  of  life  also  is  now  seriously 
limited ;  and  by  a  cheap  expedient  to  secure 
safety,  it  has  fatally  lost  its  independence.  It 
is  plain  from  its  anatomy  that  the  Hermit-crab 
was  not  always  a  Hermit-crab.  It  was  meant 
for  higher  tilings.  Its  ancestors  doubtless 
were  more  or  less  perfect  crustaceans,  though 
what  exact  stage  of  development  was  reached 
before  the  hermit  habit  became  fixed  in  the 
species  we  cannot  tell.  But  from  the  moment 
the  creature  took  to  relying  on  an  external 
source,  it  began  to  fall.  It  slowly  lost  in  its 
own  person  all  that  it  now  draws  from  external 
aid. 

As  an  important  item  in  the  day's  work, 
namely,  the  securing  of  safety  and  shelter,  was 
now  guaranteed  to  it,  one  of  the  chief  induce- 
ments to  a  life  of  high  and  vigilant  effort  was 
at  the  same  time  withdrawn.  A  number  of 
functions,  in  fact,  struck  work.  The  whole  of 
the  parts,  therefore,  of  the  complex  organism 
which  ministered  to  these  functions,  from  lack 
of  exercise,  or  total  disuse,  became  gradually 
ieeble ;  and  ultimately,  by  the  stern  law  that 
an  unused  organ  must  suffer  a  slow  but  in- 
evitable atrophy,  the  creature  not  only  lost  all 
power  of  motion  in  these  parts,  but  lost  the 
parts  themselves,  and  otherwise  sank  into  a 
relatively  degenerate  condition. 

Every  normal  crustacean,  on  the  other  hand, 
has  the  abdominal  region  of  the  body  covered 


SEMI-PARASITISM.  313 

by  a  thick  chitinous  shell.  In  the  Hermits 
this  is  represented  only  by  a  thin  and  delicate 
membrane — of  which  the  sorry  figure  the 
creature  cuts  when  drawn  from  its  foreign 
hiding-place  is  sufficient  evidence.  Any  one 
who  now  examines  further  this  half-naked 
and  woe-begone  object,  will  perceive  also  that 
the  fourth  and  fifth  pair  of  limbs  are  either 
so  small  and  wasted  as  to  be  quite  useless  or 
altogether  rudimentary ;  and,  although  cer- 
tainly the  additional  development  of  the  ex- 
tremity of  the  tail  into  an  organ  for  holding  on 
to  its  extemporized  retreat  may  be  regarded 
as  a  slight  compensation,  it  is  clear  from  the 
whole  structure  of  the  animal  that  it  has 
allowed  itself  to  undergo  severe  Degeneration. 

In  dealing  with  the  Hermit-crab,  in  short, 
we  are  dealing  with  a  case  of  physiological 
backsliding.  That  the  creature  has  lost  any- 
thing by  this  process  from  a  practical  point  of 
view  ,is  not  now  argued.  It  might  fairly  be 
shown,  as  already  indicated,  that  its  freedom 
is  impaired  by  its  cumbrous  eko-skeleton,  and 
that,  in  contrast  with  other  crabs,  who  lead  a 
free  and  roving  life,  its  independence  generally 
is  greatly  limited.  But  from  the  physiological 
standpoint,  there  is  no  question  that  the 
Hermit  tribe  have  neither  discharged  their 
responsibility  to  Nature  nor  to  themselves.  If 
the  end  of  life  is  merely  to  escape  death,  and 
serve  themselves,  possibly  they  have  done 
well ;  but  if  it  is  to  attain  an  ever-increasing 
perfection,  then  are  they  backsliders  indeed. 

A  zoologist's  verdict  would  be  that  by  this 


314  SEMI-PARASITISM. 

act  they  have  forfeited  to  some  extent  theii 
place  in  the  animal  scale.  An  animal  is  classed 
as  low  or  high  according  as  it  is  adapted  to  less 
or  more  complex  conditions  of  life.  This  is 
the  true  standpoint  from  which  to  judge  all 
living  organisms.  "Were  perfection  merely  a 
matter  of  continual  eating  and  drinking,  the 
Amoeba — the  lowest  known  organism — might 
take  rank  with  the  highest,  !Man,  for  the  one 
nourishes  itself  and  saves  its  skin  almost  as 
completely  as  the  other.  But  judged  by  the 
higher  standard  of  Complexity,  that  is,  by 
greater  or  lesser  adaptation  to  more  or  less 
complex  conditions,  the  gulf  between  them  is 
infinite. 

We  have  now  received  a  preliminary  idea, 
although  not  from  the  study  of  a  true  parasite, 
of  the  essential  principles  involved  in  a  para- 
sitism. And  we  may  proceed  to  point  out  the 
correlative  in  the  moral  and  spiritual  spheres. 
We  confine  ourselves  for  the  present  to  one 
point.  The  difference  between  the  Hermit- 
crab  and  a  true  parasite  is,  that  the  former 
has  acquired  a  semi-parasitic  habit  only  with 
reference  to  safety.  It  may  be  that  the  Hermit 
devours  as  a  preliminary  the  accommodating 
mollusc  whose  tenement  it  covets ;  but  it  would 
become  a  real  parasite  only  on  the  supposition 
that  the  whelk  was  of  such  size  as  to  keep 
providing  for  it  throughout  life,  and  that  the 
external  and  internal  organs  of  the  crab  should 
disappear,  while  it  lived  henceforth,  by  simple 
imbibition,  upon  the  elaborated  juices  of  its 
host.  All  the  mollusc  provides,  however,  for 


SEMI-PARASITISM.  315 

the  crustacean  in  this  instance  is  safety,  and, 
accordingly,  in  the  mean  time  we  limit  our  ap- 
plication to  this.  The  true  parasite  presents 
us  with  an  organism  so  much  more  degraded 
in  all  its  parts,  that  its  lessons  may  well  be  re- 
served until  we  have  paved  the  way  to  under- 
stand the  deeper  bearings  of  the  subject. 

The  spiritual  principle  to  be  illustrated  in 
the  meantime  stands  thus :  Any  principle 
which  secures  the  safety  of  the  individual  with- 
out personal  effortor  the  vital  exercise  of  fac- 
ulty is  disastrous  to  moral  character.  We  do 
not  begin  by  attempting  to  define  words. 
Were  we  to  define  truly  what  is  meant  by 
safety  or  salvation,  we  should  be  spared  further 
elaboration,  and  the  law  would  stand  out  as  a 
sententious  commonplace.  But  we  have  to 
deal  with  the  ideas  of  safety  as  these  are  popu- 
larly held,  and  the  chief  purpose  at  this  stage 
is  to  expose  what  may  be  called  the  Parasitic 
Doctrine  of  Salvation.  The  phases  of  religious 
experience  about  to  be  described  may  be  un- 
known to  many.  It  remains  for  those  who  are 
familiar  with  the  religious  conceptions  of  the 
masses  to  determine  whether  or  not  we  are 
wasting  words. 

What  is  meant  by  the  Parasitic  Doctrine  of 
Salvation  one  may,  perhaps,  best  explain  by 
sketching  two  of  its  leading  types.  The  first 
is  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  Rome  ;  the 
second,  that  represented  by  the  narrower  Evan- 
gelical Religion.  We  take  these  religions, 
however,  not  in  their  ideal  form,  with  which 
possibly  we  should  have  little  quarrel,  but  in 


316  SEMI-PARASITISM. 

their  practical  working,  or  in  the  form  in  which 
they  itre  held  especially  by  the  rank  and  file 
of  those  who  belong  respectively  to  these  com- 
munions. For  the  strength  or  weakness  of 
any  religious  system  is  best  judged  from  the 
form  in  which  it  presents  itself  to,  and  influ- 
ences the  common  mind. 

No  more  perfect  or  more  sad  example  of 
semi-parasitism  exists  than  in  the  case  of  those 
illiterate  thousands  who,  scattered  everywhere 
throughout  the  habitable  globe,  swell  the  lower 
ranks  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  Had  an  organ- 
ization, been  specially  designed,  indeed,  to  in- 
duce the  parasitic  habit  in  the  souls  of  men, 
nothing  better  fitted  to  its  disastrous  end 
could  be  established  than  the  system  of  Roman 
Catholicism.  Roman  Catholicism  offers  to 
the  masses  a  molluscan  shell.  They  have 
simply  to  shelter  themselves  within  its  pale 
and  they  are  "safe."  But  what  is  this 
"  safe  "  ?  It  is  an  external  safety — the  safety 
of  an  institution.  It  is  a  salvation  recom- 
mended to  men  by  all  that  appeals  to  the 
motives  in  most  common  use  with  the  vulgar 
and  the  superstitious,  but  which  has  as  little 
vital  connection  with  the  individual  soul  as  the 
dead  whelk's  shell  with  the  living  Hermit. 
Salvation  is  a  relation  at  once  vital,  personal, 
and  spiritual.  This  is  mechanical  and  purely 
external.  And  this  is  of  course  the  final  secret 
of  its  marvellous  success  and  world- wide 
power.  A  cheap  religion  is  the  desideratum 
of  the  human  heart ;  and  an  assurance  of  sal- 
vation at  the  smallest  possible  cost  forms  the 


8EMI-PAKASITISM.  317 

tempting  bait  held  out  to  a  conscience-stricken 
world  by  the  Romish  Church.  Thousands, 
therefore,  who  have  never  been  taught  to  use 
their  faculties  in  "working  out  their  own 
salvation,"  thousands  who  will  not  exercise 
themselves  religiously,  and  who  yet  cannot  be 
"without  the  exercises  of  religions,  intrust  them- 
selves in  idle  faith  to  that  venerable  house  of 
refuge  which  for  centuries  has  stood  between 
God  and  man.  A  Church  which  has  harbored 
generations  of  the  elect,  whose  archives  en- 
shrine the  names  of  saints,  whose  foundations 
are  consecrated  with  martyrs'  blood — shall  it 
not  afford  a  sure  asylum  for  any  soul  which 
would  make  its  peace  with  God  ?  So.  as  the 
Hermit  into  the  molluscan  shell,  creeps  the 
poor  soul  within  the  pale  of  Rome,  seeking, 
like  Adam  in  the  garden,  to  hide  its  naked- 
ness from  God. 

Why  does  the  true  lover  of  men  restrain  not 
his  lips  in  warning  his  fellows  against  this 
*md  all  other  priestly  religion  ?  It  is  not  be- 
cause he  fails  to  see  the  prodigious  energy  of 
the  Papal  See,  or  to  appreciate  the  many  noble 
types  of  Christian  manhood  nurtured  within 
its  pale.  Nor  is  it  because  its  teachers  are  often 
corrupt  and  its  system  of  doctrine  in-adequate 
as  a  representation  of  the  Truth — charges 
which  have  to  be  made  more  or  less  against 
all  religions.  But  it  is  because  it  ministers 
falsely  to  the  deepest  need  of  man,  reduces  the 
end  of  religion  to  selfishness,  and  offers  safety 
without  spirituality.  That  these,  theoretically, 
are  its  pretensions,  we  do  not  affirm ;  but  that 


318  SEMI-PARASITISM. 

its  practical  working  is  to  induce  in  man,  and 
in  its  worst  forms,  the  parasitic  habit,  is  testi- 
fied by  results.  No  one  who  has  studied  the 
religion  of  the  Continent  upon  the  spot,  has 
failed  to  be  impressed  with  the  appalling  spec- 
tacle of  tens  of  thousands  of  unregenerate 
men  sheltering  themselves,  as  they  conceive  it 
for  Eternity,  behind  the  Sacraments  of  Rome. 
There  is  no  stronger  evidence  of  the  inborn 
parasitic  tendency  in  man  in  things  religious 
than  the  absolute  complacency  with  which 
even  cultured  men  will  hand  over  their  eternal 
interests  to  the  care  of  a  Church.  We  can 
never  dismiss  from  memory  the  sadness  with 
which  we  once  listened  to  the  confession  of  a 
certain  foreign  professor :  "  I  used  to  be  con- 
cerned about  religion,"  he  said  in  substance, 
"  but  religion  is  a  great  subject.  I  was  very 
busy ;  there  was  little  time  to  settle  it  for  my- 
self. A  Protestant,  my  attention  was  called  to 
the  Roman  Catholic  religion.  It  suited  my  case. 
And  instead  of  dabbling  in  religion  for  myself  I 
put  myself  in  its  hands.  Once  a  year,"  he  con- 
cluded, "  I  go  to  mass."  These  were  the  words 
of  one  whose  work  will  live  in  the  history  of  his 
country,  one,  too,  who  knew  all  about  para- 
tism.  Yet,  though  he  thought  it  not,  this  is 
parasitism  in  its  worst  and  most  degrading 
form.  Nor,  in  spite  of  its  intellectual,  not  to 
say  moral  sin,  is  this  an  extreme  or  exceptional 
case.  It  is  a  case  which  is  being  duplicated 
every  day  in  our  own  country,  only  here  the 
confession  is  expressed  with  a  candor  which 
is  rare  in  company  with  actions  betraying  so 
signally  the  want  of  it. 


SEMI-PARASITISM.  319 

The  form  of  parasitism  exhibited  by  a  cer- 
tain section  of  the  narrower  Evangelical  school 
is  altogether  different  from  that  of  the  Church 
of  Rome.  The  parasite  in  this  case  seeks  its 
shelter,  not  in  a  Church,  but  in  a  Doctrine  or  a 
Creed.  Let  it  be  observed  again  that  we  are 
not  dealing  with  the  Evangelical  Religion,  but 
only  with  one  of  its  parasitic  forms — a  form 
which  will  at  once  be  recognized  by  all  who 
know  the  popular  Protestantism  of  this  coun- 
try. We  confine  ourselves  also  at  present  to 
that  form  which  finds  its  encouragement  in  a 
single  doctrine,  that  doctrine  being  a  Doctrine 
of  the  Atonement — let  us  say,  rather,  a  per- 
verted form  of  this  central  truth. 

The  perverted  Doctrine  of  the  Atonement, 
which  tends  to  beget  the  parasitic  habit,  may 
be  defined  in  a  single  sentence — it  is  very  much 
because  it  can  be  defined  in  a  single  sentence 
that  it  is  a  perversion.  Let  us  state  it  in  a 
concrete  form.  It  is  put  to  the  individual  in 
the  following  syllogism :  "  You  believe  Christ 
died  for  sinners ;  you  are  a  sinner ;  therefore 
Christ  died  for  you ;  and  hence  you  are  saved." 
Now  what  is  this  but  another  species  of  mol- 
luscan  shell  ?  Could  any  trap  for  a  benighted 
soul  be  more  ingeniously  planned  ?  It  is  not 
superstition  that  is  appealed  to  this  time ;  it  is 
reason.  The  agitated  soul  is  invited  to  creep 
into  the  convolutions  of  a  syllogism,  and  en- 
trench itself  behind  a  Doctrine  more  venerable 
even  than  the  Church.  But  words  are  mere 
chitine.  Doctrines  may  have  no  more  vital 
contact  with  the  soul  than  priest  or  sacrament, 


820  SEMI-PARASITISM. 

no  further  influence  on  life  and  character  than 
stone  and  lime.  And  yet  the  apostles  of  par- 
asitism pick  a  blackguard  from  the  streets, 
pass  him  through  this  plausible  formula,  and 
turn  him  out  a  convert  in  the  space  of  as  many 
minutes  as  it  takes  to  tell  it. 

The  zeal  of  these  men,  assuredly,  is  not  to  be 
questioned ;  their  instincts  are  right,  and  their 
work  is  often  not  in  vain.  It  is  possible,  too, 
up  to  a  certain  point,  to  defend  this  Salvation 
by  Formula.  Are  these  not  the  very  words  of 
Scripture  ?  Did  not  Christ  Himself  say,  "  It  is 
finished  "  ?  And  is  it  not  written,  "  By  grace 
are  ye  saved  through  faith,"  •"  Xot  of  works, 
lest  any  man  should  boast,"  and  He  "  that  be- 
lieveth  on  the  Son  hath  everlasting  life  "  ?  To 
which,  however,  one  might  also  answer  in  the 
words  of  Scripture,  "  The  Devils  also  believe," 
and  "  Except  a  man  be  born  again  he  cannot 
see  the  Kingdom  of  God."  But  without  seem- 
ing to  make  text  refute  text,  let  us  ask  rather 
what  the  supposed  convert  possesses  at  the 
end  of  the  process.  That  Christ  saves  sinners, 
even  blackguards  from  the  street,  is  a  great 
fact ;  and  that  the  simple  words  of  the  street 
evangelist  do  sometimes  bring  this  home  to 
man  with  convincing  power  is  also  a  fact. 
But  in  ordinary  circumstances,  when  the  in- 
quirer's mind  is  rapidly  urged  through  the 
various  stages  of  the  above  piece  of  logic,  he  is 
left  to  face  the  future  and  blot  out  the  past 
with  a  formula  of  words. 

To  be  sure  these  words  may  already  convey 
a  germ  of  truth,  they  may  yet  be  filled  in  with 


SEMI-PARASITISM.  321 

a  wealth  of  meaning  and  become  a  lifelong 
power.  But  we  would  state  the  case  against 
Salvation  by  Formula  with  ignorant  and 
unwarranted  clemency  did  we  for  a  moment 
convey  the  idea  that  this  is  always  the  actual  re- 
sult. The  doctrine  plays  too  well  into  the  hands 
of  the  parasitic  tendency  to  make  it  possible 
that  in  more  than  a  minority  of  cases  the  result 
is  anything  but  disastrous.  And  it  is  disastrous 
not  in  that,  sooner  or  later,  after  losing  half  their 
lives,  those  who  rely  on  the  naked  syllogism 
come  to  see  their  mistake,  but  in  that  thou- 
sands never  come  to  see  it  all.  Are  there  not 
men  who  can  prove  to  you  and  to  the  world, 
by  the  irresistible  logic  of  text,  that  they  are- 
saved,  whom  you  know  to  be  not  only  unworthy 
of  the  Kingdom  of  God — which  we  all  are — but 
absolutely  incapable  of  entering  it  ?  The  con- 
dition of  membership  in  the  Kingdom  of  God 
is  well  known ;  who  fulfil  this  condition  and 
who  do  not,  is  not  well  known.  And  yet  the 
moral  test,  in  spite  of  the  difficulty  of  its  appli- 
cations, will  always,  and  rightly,  be  preferred 
by  the  world  to  the  theological.  Nevertheless, 
in  spite  of  the  world's  verdict,  the  parasite  is- 
content.  He  is  "safe."  Years  ago  his  mind 
worked  through  a  certain  chain  of  phrases  in 
which  the  words  "  believe  "  and  "  saved  "  were 
the  conspicuous  terms.  And  from  that  mo- 
ment, by  all  Scriptures,  by  all  logic,  and  by  all 
theology,  his  future  was  guaranteed.  He  took 
out,  in  short,  an  insurance  policy,  by  which  he- 
was  infallibly  secured  eternal  life  at  death. 
This  is  not  a  matter  to  make  light  of.  We 


322  8EMI-PAEASITISM. 

wish  we  were  caricaturing  instead  of  represent- 
ing things  as  they  are.  But  we  carry  with  us 
all  who  intimately  know  the  spiritual  condition 
of  the  Narrow  Church  in  asserting  that  in  some 
cases  at  least  its  members  have  nothing  more 
to  show  for  their  religion  than  a  formula,  a 
syllogism,  a  cant  phrase,  or  an  experience  of 
some  kind  which  happened  long  ago,  and  which 
men  told  them  at  the  time  was  called  Salvation. 
Need  we  proceed  to  formulate  objections  to  the 
parasitism  of  Evangelicism  ?  Between  it  and 
the  Religion  of  the  Church  of  Rome  there  is  an 
affinity  as  real  as  it  is  unsuspected.  For  one 
thing  these  religions  are  spiritually  disastrous 
as  well  as  theologically  erroneous  in  propagat- 
ing a  false  conception  of  Christianity.  The 
fundamental  idea  alike  of  the  extreme  Roman 
Catholic  and  extreme  Evangelical  Religions  is 
Escape.  Man's  chief  end  is  to  "  get  off."  And 
all  factors  in  religion,  the  highest  and  most 
sacred,  are  degraded  to  this  level.  God,  for 
example,  is  a  Great  Lawyer.  Or  he  is  the  Al- 
mighty Enemy ;  it  is  from  Him  we  have  to 
"  get  off."  Jesus  Christ  is  the  One  who  gets 
us  off — a  theological  figure  who  contrives  so  to 
adjust  matters  federally  that  the  way  is  clear. 
The  Church  in  the  one  instance  is  a  kind  of 
conveyancing  office  where  the  transaction  is 
duly  concluded,  each  party  accepting  the  other's 
terms ;  in  the  other  case,  a  species  of  sheep-pen 
where  the  flock  awaits  impatiently  and  indo- 
lently the  final  consummation.  Generally,  the 
means  are  mistaken  for  the  end,  and  the  open- 
ing up  of  the  possibility  of  spiritual  growth  be- 
comes the  signal  to  stop  growing. 


SEMI-PARASITISM.  323 

Second,  these  being  cheap  religions,  are  in- 
evitably accompanied  by  a  cheap  life.  Safety 
being  guaranteed  from  the  first,  there  remains 
nothing  else  to  be  done.  The  mechanical  way 
in  which  the  transaction  is  effected,  leaves  the 
soul  without  stimulus,  and  the  character  re- 
mains untouched  by  the  moral  aspects  of  the 
sacrifice  of  Christ.  He  who  is  unjust  is  unjust 
still ;  he  who  is  unholy  is  unholy  still.  Thus 
the  whole  scheme  ministers  to  the  Degeneration 
of  Organs.  For  here,  again,  by  just  as  much  as- 
the  organism  borrows  mechanically  from  an 
external  source,  by  so  much  exactly  does  it 
lose  in  its  own  organization.  Whatever  rest 
is  provided  by  Christianity  for  the  children  of 
God,  it  is  certainly  never  contemplated  that  it 
should  supersede  personal  effort.  And  any 
rest  which  ministers  to  indifference  is  immoral 
and  unreal — it  makes  parasites  and  not  men. 
Just  because  God  worketh  in  him,  as  the  evi- 
dence and  triumph  of  it,  the  true  child  of  God 
works  out  his  own  salvation — works  it  out  hav- 
ing really  received  it — not  as  a  light  thing,  a 
superfluous  labor,  but  with  fear  and  trembling 
as  a  reasonable  and  indispensable  service. 

It  it  be  asked,  then,  shall  the  parasite  be 
saved  or  shall  he  not,  the  answer  is  that  the 
idea  of  salvation  conveyed  by  the  question 
makes  a  reply  all  but  hopeless.  But  if  by 
salvation  is  meant,  a  trusting  in  Christ  in  order 
to  likeness  to  Christ,  in  order  to  that  holiness 
without  which  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord,  the  re- 
ply is  that  the  parasite's  hope  is  absolutely  vain. 
So  far  from  ministering  to  growth,  parasitism 


324  SEMI-PARASITISM. 

ministers  to  decay.  So  far  from  ministering 
to  holiness,  that  is  to  wholeness,  parasitism 
ministers  to  exactly  the  opposite.  One  by  one 
the  spiritual  faculties  droop  and  die,  one  by 
one  from  lack  of  exercise  the  muscles  of  the 
3oul  grow  weak  and  flaccid,  one  by  one  the 
moral  activities  cease.  So  from  him  that  hath 
not,  is  taken  away  that  which  he  hath,  and 
after  a  few  years  of  parasitism  there  is  noth- 
ing left  to  save. 

If  our  meaning  up  to  this  point  has  been 
sufficiently  obscure  to  make  the  objection  now 
possible  that  this  protest  against  Parasitism  is 
opposed  to  the  doctrines  of  Free  Grace,  we 
cannot  hope  in  a  closing  sentence  to  free  the 
argument  from  a  suspicion  so  ill-judged.  The 
adjustment  between  Faith  and  Works  does 
not  fall  within  our  province  now.  Salvation 
truly  is  the  free  gift  of  God,  but  he  who  really 
knows  how  much  this  means  knows — and  just 
because  it  means  so  much — how  much  of  conse- 
quent action  it  involves.  With  the  central 
doctrines  of  grace  the  whole  scientific  argu- 
ment is  in  too  wonderful  harmony  to  be  found 
wanting  here.  The  natural  life,  not  less  than 
the  eternal,  is  the  gift  of  God.  But  life  in 
either  case  is  the  beginning  of  growth  and  not 
the  end  of  grace.  To  pause  where  we  should 
begin,  to  retrograde  where  we  should  advance, 
to  seek  a  mechanical  security  that  we  may 
cover  inertia  and  find  a  wholesale  salvation  in 
which  there  is  no  personal  sanctiflcation — this 
is  Parasitism. 


PARASITISM. 


"  And  so  I  live,  you  see, 
Go  through  the  world,  try,  prove,  reject, 
Prefer,  still  struggling  to  effect 
My  warfare  ;  happy  that  I  can 
Be  crossed  and  thwarted  as  a  man, 
Not  left  in  God's  contempt  apart, 
With  ghastly  smooth  lif  c,  dead  at  heart, 
Tame  in  earth's  paddock  as  her  prize. 
***** 

Thank  God,  no  paradise  stands  barred 
To  entry,  and  I  find  it  hard 
To  be  a  Christian,  as  I  said." 

BROWMNO. 


PARASITISM. 

"  Work  out  your  own  salvation." — Paul. 

"  Be  no  longer  a  chaos,  but  a  World,  or  even  World- 
kin.  Produce  I  Produce  !  Were  it  but  the  pitifullest 
infinitesimal  fraction  of  a  Product,  produce  it,  in  God's 
name  I" — Carlyle. 

FROM  a  study  of  the  habits  and  organization 
of  the  family  of  Hermit-crabs  we  have  already 
gained  some  insight  into  the  nature  and  effects 
of  parasitism.  But  the  Hermit-crab,  be  it  re- 
membered, is  in  no  real  sense  a  parasite.  And 
before  we  can  apply  the  general  principle 
further  we  must  address  ourselves  briefly  to 
the  examination  of  a  true  case  of  parasitism. 

\Ve  have  not  far  to  seek.  Within  the  body 
of  the  Hermit-crab  a  minute  organism  may 
frequently  be  discovered  resembling,  when 
magnified,  a  miniature  kidney-bean.  A  bunch 
of  root-like  processes  hangs  from  one  side,  and 
the  extremities  of  these  are  seen  to  ramify  in 
delicate  films  through  the  1  ving  tissues  of  the 
crab.  This  simple  organisi-  is  known  to  the 
naturalist  as  a  Sacculina ;  and  though  a  full- 
grown  animal,  it  consists  f  no  more  parts  than 
those  just  named.  Xo'  a  trace  of  structure  is 
to  be  detected  within  this  rude  and  all  but  in- 
animate frame ;  it  possesses  neither  legs,  nor 
eyes,  nor  mouth,  nor  throat,  nor  stomach,  nor 


328  PARASITISM. 

any  other  organs,  external  or  internal.  This 
Sacculina  is  a  typical  parasite.  By  means  of 
its  twining  and  theftuous  roots  it  imbibes 
automatically  its  nourishment  ready-prepared 
from  the  body  of  the  crab.  It  boards  indeed 
entirely  at  the  expense  of  its  host,  who  supplies 
it  liberally  with  food  and  shelter  and  every- 
thing else  it  wants.  So  far  as  the  result  to 
itself  is  concerned  this  arrangement  may  seem 
at  first  sight  satisfactory  enough  ;  but  when  we 
inquire  into  the  life  history  of  this  small 
creature  we  unearth  a  career  of  degeneracy  all 
but  unparalleled  in  nature. 

The  most  certain  clue  to  what  nature  meant 
any  animal  to  become  is  to  be  learned  from  its 
embryology.  Let  us,  therefore,  examine  for  a 
moment  the  earliest  positive  stage  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  Sacculina.  When  the  embryo 
first  makes  its  appearance  it  bears  not  the  re- 
motest resemblance  to  the  adult  animal.  A 
different  name  even  is  given  to  it  by  the  biologist, 
who  knows  it  at  this  period  as  a  Nauplius.  This 
minute  organism  has  an  oval  body,  supplied 
with  six  well-jointed  feet  by  means  of  which 
it  paddles  briskly  through  the  water.  For  a 
time  it  leads  an  active  and  independent  life,  in- 
dustriously securing  its  own  food  and  escap- 
ing enemies  by  its  own  gallantry.  But  soon  a 
change  takes  place.  The  hereditary  taint  of 
parasitism  is  in  its  blood,  and  it  proceeds  to 
adapt  itself  to  the  pauper  habits  of  its  race. 
The  tiny  body  first  doubles  in  upon  itself,  and 
from  the  two  front  limbs  elongated  filaments 
protrude.  Its  four  hind  limbs  entirely  dis- 


PARASITISM.  329 

appear,  and  twelve  short-forked  swimming 
organs  temporarily  take  their  place.  Thus 
strangely  metamorphosed  the  Sacculina  sets  out 
in  search  of  a  suitable  host,  and  in  an  evil  hour, 
by  that  fate  which  is  always  ready  to  accom- 
modate the  transgressor,  is  thrown  into  the 
company  of  the  Hermit-crab.  With  its  two 
filamentary  processes — which  afterwards  de- 
velop into  the  root-like  organs — it  penetrates 
the  body ;  the  sac-like  form  is  gradually  as- 
sumed ;  the  whole  of  the  swimming  feet  drop 
off, — they  will  never  be  needed  again, — and 
the  animal  settles  down  for  the  rest  of  its  life 
as  a  parasite. 

One  reason  which  makes  a  zoologist  certain 
that  the  Sacculina  is  a  degenerate  type  is,  that 
in  almost  all  other  instances  of  animals  which 
begin  life  in  the  Kauplius-form — and  there  are 
several — the  Nauplius  develops  through  higher 
and  higher  stages,  and  arrives  finally  at  the 
high  perfection  displayed  by  the  shrimp,  lob- 
ster, crab,  and  other  crustaceans.  But  instead 
of  rising  to  its  opportunities,  the  sacculine 
Nauplius  having  reached  a  certain  point  turned 
back.  It  shrunk  from  the  struggle  for  life,  and 
beginning  probably  by  seeking  shelter  from  its 
host  went  on  to  demand  its  food  ;  and  so  fall- 
ing from  bad  to  worse,  became  in  time  an  entire 
dependant. 

In  the  eyes  of  Nature  this  was  a  twofold 
crime.  It  was  first  a  disregard  of  evolution, 
and  second,  which  is  practically  the  same  thing, 
an  evasion  of  the  great  law  of  work.  And  the 
revenge  of  Nature  was  therefore  necessary. 


330  PARASITISM. 

It  could  not  help  punishing  the  Sacculina  fo? 
violated  law,  and  the  punishment,  according 
to  the  strange  and  noteworthy  way  in  which 
Nature  usually  punishes,  was  meted  out  by 
natural  processes,  carried  on  within  its  own. 
organization.  Its  punishment  was  simply  that 
it  was  a  Sacculina — that  it  was  a  Sacculina 
when  it  might  have  been  a  Crustacean.  In- 
stead of  being  a  free  and  independent  organism 
high  in  structure,  original  in  action,  vital  with 
energy,  it  deteriorated  into  a  torpid  and  all  but 
amorphous  sac  confined  to  perpetual  imprison- 
ment and  doomed  to  a  living  death.  "  Any  new 
set  of  conditions,"  says  Ray  Lankester,  "  oc- 
curring to  an  animal  which  render  its  food  and 
safety  very  easily  attained,  seem  to  lead  as  a 
rule  to  degeneration  ;  just  as  an  active  healthy 
man  sometimes  degenerates  when  he  becomes 
suddenly  possessed  of  a  fortune ;  or  as  Rome 
degenerated  when  possessed  of  the  riches  of 
the  ancient  world.  The  habit  of  parasitism 
clearly  acts  upon  animal  organization  in  this 
way.  Let  the  parasitic  life  once  be  secured, 
and  away  go  legs,  jaws,  eyes,  and  ears ;  the 
active,  highly-gifted  crab,  insect,  or  annelid 
may  become  a  mere  sac,  absorbing  nourishment 
and  laying  eggs."  1 

There  could  be  no  more  impressive  illustra- 
tion than  this  of  what  with  entire  appropriate- 
ness one  might  call  "  the  physiology  of  back- 
sliding." We  fail  to  appreciate  the  meaning 
of  spiritual  degeneration  or  detect  the  terrible 

1 "  Degeneration, "  by  E.  Kay  Lankester,  p.  33. 


PARASITISM.  331 

nature  of  the  consequences  only  because  they 
evade  the  eye  of  sense.  But  could  we  investi- 
gate the  spirit  as  a  living  organism,  or  study 
the  soul  of  the  backslider  on  principles  of  com- 
parative anatomy,  we  should  have  a  revelation 
of  the  organic  effects  of  sin,  even  of  the  mere 
sin  of  carelessness  as  to  growth  and  work, 
which  must  revolutionize  our  ideas  of  practi- 
cal religion.  There  is  no  room  for  the  doubt 
«ven  that  what  goes  on  in  the  body  does  not 
with  equal  certainty  take  place  in  the  spirit 
under  the  corresponding  conditions. 

The  penalty  of  backsliding  is  not  something 
unreal  and  vague,  some  unknown  quantity 
which  may  be  measured  out  to  us  dispropor- 
tionately, or  which  perchance,  since  God  is 
good,  we  may  altogether  evade.  The  con- 
sequences are  already  marked  within  the 
structure  of  the  soul.  So  to  speak,  they  are 
physiological.  The  thing  affected  by  our  in- 
difference or  by  our  indulgence  is  not  the  book 
of  final  judgment  but  the  present  fabric  of  the 
soul.  The  punishment  of  degeneration  is  sim- 
ply degeneration — the  loss  of  functions,  the 
decay  of  organs,  the  atrophy  of  the  spiritual 
nature.  It  is  well  known  that  the  recovery 
of  the  backslider  is  one  of  the  hardest  prob- 
lems in  spiritual  work.  To  reinvigorate  an 
old  organ  seems  more  difficult  and  hopeless 
than  to  develop  a  new  one;  and  the  back- 
slider's terrible  lot  is  to  have  to  retrace  with 
enfeebled  feet  each  step  of  the  way  along 
which  he  strayed ;  to  make  up  inch  by  inch 
tb3  lee-way  he  has  lost,  carrying  with  him  a 


332  PAEASITISM. 

dead- weight  of  acquired  reluctance,  and  scarce 
knowing  whether  to  be  stimulated  or  dis- 
couraged by  the  oppressive  memory  of  the  pre- 
vious fall. 

We  are  not,  however,  to  discuss  at  present 
the  physiology  of  backsliding.  Xor  need  we 
point  out  at  greater  length  that  parasitism  is 
always  and  indissolubly  accompanied  by  de- 
generation. We  wish  rather  to  examine  one 
or  two  leading  tendencies  of  the  modern  re- 
ligious life  which  directly  or  indirectly  induce 
the  parasitic  habit  and  bring  upon  thousands 
of  unsuspecting  victims  such  secret  and  ap- 
palling penalties  as  have  been  named. 

Two  main  causes  are  known  to  the  biologist 
as  tending  to  induce  the  parasitic  habit.  These 
are,  first,  the  temptation  to  secure  safety  with- 
out the  vital  exercise  of  faculties,  and,  second, 
the  disposition  to  find  food  without  earning  it. 
The  first,  which  we  have  formally  considered, 
is  probably  the  preliminary  stage  in  most 
cases.  The  animal,  seeking  shelter,  finds  un- 
expectedly that  it  can  also  thereby  gain  a  cer- 
tain measure  of  food.  Compelled  in  the  first 
instance,  perhaps  by  stress  of  circumstances, 
to  rob  its  host  of  a  meal  or  perish,  it  gradually 
acquires  the  habit  of  drawing  all  its  supplies 
from  the  same  source,  and  thus  becomes  in 
time  a  confirmed  parasite.  Whatever  be  its 
origin,  however,  it  is  certain  that  the  main  evil 
of  parasitism  is  connected  with  the  further 
question  of  food.  Mere  safety  with  Nature  is 
a  secondary,  though  by  no  means  an  insignifi- 
cant, consideration.  And  while  the  organism 


PARASITISM.  333 

forfeits  a  part  of  its  organization  by  any  method 
of  evading  enemies  which  demands  no  per- 
sonal effort,  the  most  entire  degeneration  of 
the  whole  system  follows  the  neglect  or  abuse 
of  the  functions  of  nutrition. 

The  direction  in  which  we  have  to  seek  the 
wider  application  of  the  subject  will  now  ap- 
pear. We  have  to  look  into  those  cases  in  the 
moral  and  spiritual  sphere  in  which  the  func- 
tions of  nutrition  are  either  neglected  or  abused. 
To  sustain  life,  physical,  mental,  moral,  or 
spiritual,  some  sort  of  food  is  essential.  To 
secure  an  adequate  supply  each  organism  also 
is  provided  with  special  and  appropriate  facul- 
ties. But  the  final  gain  to  the  organism  does 
not  depend  so  much  on  the  actual  amount  of 
food  procured  as  on  the  exercise  required  to 
obtain  it.  In  one  sense  the  exercise  is  only  a 
means  to  an  end,  namely,  the  finding  food; 
but  in  another  and  equally  real  sense,  the  ex- 
ercise is  the  end,  the  food  the  means  to  attain 
that.  Neither  is  of  permanent  use  without 
the  other,  but  the  correlation  between  them,  is 
so  intimat.  that  it  were  idle  to  say  that  one 
is  more  nece°sary  than  the  other.  Without 
food  exercise  is  impossible,  but  without  exer- 
cise food  is  useless. 

Thus  exercise  is  in  order  to  food,  and  food 
is  in  order  to  exercise — in  order  especially  to 
that  further  progress  and  maturity  which  only 
ceaseless  activity  can  promote.  Now  food  too 
easily  acquired  means  food  without  that  ac- 
companiment of  discipline  which  is  infinitely 
more  valuable  than  the  food  itself.  It  meana 


334  PARASITISM. 

the  possibility  of  a  life  which  is  a  mere  exist* 
ence.  It  leaves  the  organism  in  statu  qu.\. 
undeveloped,  immature,  low  in  the  scale  of 
organization  and  with  a  growing  tendency  to 
pass  from  the  state  of  equilibrium  to  that  of 
increasing  degeneration.  What  an  organism 
is  depends  upon  what  it  does ;  its  activities 
make  it.  And  if  the  stimulus  to  the  exercise 
of  all  the  innumerable  faculties  concerned 
in  nutrition  be  withdrawn  by  the  conditions 
and  circumstances  of  life  becoming,  or  being 
made  to  become,  too  easy,  there  is  first  an  ar- 
rest of  development,  and  finally  a  loss  of  the 
parts  themselves.  If,  in  short,  an  organism 
does  nothing  in  that  relation  it  is  nothing. 

We  may,  therefore,  formulate  the  general 
principle  thus:  Any  principle  which  secures 
food  to  the  individual  without  the  expenditure 
of  work  is  injurious,  and  accompanied  by  the 
degeneration  and  loss  of  parts. 

The  social  and  political  analogies  of  this  law, 
which  have  been  casually  referred  to  already, 
are  sufficiently  familiar  to  render  any  further 
development  in  these  directions  superfluous. 
After  the  eloquent  preaching  of  the  Gospel  of 
Work  by  Th  as  Carlyle,  this  century  at  least 
can  never  plead  that  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant moral  bearings  of  the  subject  has  not 
been  duly  impressed  upon  it.  All  that  can  be 
said  of  idleness  generally  might  be  fitly  urged 
in  support  of  this  great  practical  truth.  All 
nations  which  have  prematurely  passed  away, 
buried  in  graves  dug  by  their  own  effeminacy ; 
all  those  individuals  who  have  secured  a  hasty 


PARASITISM.  335 

wealth  by  the  chances  of  speculation ;  all  chil- 
dren of  fortune  ;  all  victims  of  inheritance ;  all 
social  sponges ;  all  satellites  of  the  court ;  all 
beggars  of  the  market-place — all  these  are 
living  and  unlying  witnesses  to  the  unaltera- 
ble retributions  of  the  law  of  parasitism.  But 
it  is  when  we  come  to  study  the  working  of 
the  principle  in  the  religious  sphere  that  we 
discover  the  full  extent  of  the  ravages  which 
the  parasitic  habit  can  make  on  the  souls  of 
men.  We  can  only  hope  to  indicate  here  one 
or  two  of  the  things  in  modern  Christianity 
which  minister  most  subtly  and  widely  to  this 
as  yet  all  but  unnamed  sin. 

We  begin  in  what  may  seem  a  somewhat 
unlooked-for  quarter.  One  of  the  things  in 
the  religious  world  which  tends  most  strongly 
to  induce  the  parasitic  habit  is  Going  to  Church. 
Church-going  itself  every  Christian  will  rightly 
consider  an  invaluable  aid  to  the  ripe  develop- 
ment of  the  spiritual  life.  Public  worship  has 
a  place  in  the  national  religious  life  so  firmly 
established  that  nothing  is  ever  likely  to  shake 
its  influence.  So  supreme,  indeed,  is  the  ec- 
clesiastical system  hi  all  Christian  countries 
that  with  thousands  the  religion  of  the  Church 
and  the  religion  of  the  individual  are  one.  But 
just  because  of  its  high  and  unique  place  in 
religious  regard,  does  it  become  men  from  time 
to  time  to  inquire  how  far  the  Church  is  really 
ministering  to  the  spiritual  health  of  the  im- 
mense religious  community  which  looks  to  it 
as  its  foster-mother.  And  if  it  falls  to  us  here 
reluctantly  to  expose  some  secret  abuses  of 


336  PARASITISM. 

this  venerable  system,  let  it  be  well  under- 
stood  that  these  are  abuses,  and  not  that  the 
sacred  institution  itself  is  being  violated  by 
the  attack  of  an  impious  hand. 

The  danger  of  church-going  largely  depends 
on  the  form  of  worship,  but  it  may  be  affirmed 
that  even  the  most  perfect  Church  affords  to- 
all  worshippers  a  greater  or  less  temptation 
to  parasitism.  It  consists  essentially  in  the 
deputy-work  or  deputy-worship  inseparable 
from  church  or  chapel  ministrations.  One  man 
is  set  apart  to  prepare  a  certain  amount  of 
spiritual  truth  for  the  rest.  He,  if  he  is  a  true 
man,  gets  all  the  benefits  of  original  work. 
He  finds  the  truth,  digests  it,  is  nourished  and 
enriched  by  it  before  he  offers  it  to  his  flock. 
To  a  large  extent  it  will  nourish  and  enrich  in- 
turn  a  number  of  his  hearers.  But  still  they 
will  lack  something.  The  faculty  of  selecting 
truth  at  first  hand  and  appropriating  it  for 
one's  self  is  a  lawful  possession  to  every  Chris- 
tian. Rightly  ex  rcised  it  conveys  to  him 
truth  in  its  freshest  form;  it  offers  him  the 
opportunity  of  verifying  doctrines  for  himself  j 
it  makes  religi  n  personal ;  it  deepens  and  in- 
tensifies the  nly  convictions  that  are  worth 
deepening,  those,  namely,  which  are  honest; 
and  it  supplies  the  mind  with  a  basis  of  cer- 
tainty in  religion.  But  if  all  one's  truth  is 
derived  by  imbibition  from  the  Church,  the 
faculties  for  receiving  truth  are  not  only 
undeveloped  but  one's  whole  view  of  truth 
becomes  distorted,,  He  who  abandons  the  per- 
sonal search  for  truth,  under  whatever  pre- 


PARASITISM.  337 

text,  abandons  truth.  The  very  word  truth, 
by  becoming  the  limited  possession  of  a  guild, 
ceases  to  have  any  meaning ;  and  faith,  which 
can  only  be  founded  on  truth,  gives  way  to 
credulity,  resting  on  mere  opinion. 

In  those  churches  especially  where  all  parts 
of  the  worship  are  subordinated  to  the  sermon, 
this  species  of  parasitism  is  peculiarly  encour- 
aged. What  is  meant  to  be  a  stimulus  to 
thought  becomes  the  substitute  for  it.  The 
hearer  never  really  learns,  he  only  listens. 
And  while  truth  and  knowledge  seem  to  in- 
crease, life  and  character  are  left  in  arrear. 
Such  truth,  of  course,  and  such  knowledge, 
are  a  mere  seeming.  Having  cost  nothing, 
they  come  to  nothing.  The  organism  acquires 
a  growing  immobility,  and  finally  exists  in  a 
state  of  entire  intellectual  helplessness  and 
inertia.  So  the  parasitic  Church-member,  the 
literal  "adherent,"  comes  not  merely  to  live 
only  within  the  circle  of  ideas  of  his  minister, 
but  to  be  content  that  his  minister  has  these 
ideas — like  the  literary  parasite  who  fancies 
he  knows  everything  because  he  has  a  good 
library. 

Where  the  worship,  again,  is  largely  liturgi- 
cal the  danger  assumes  an  even  more  serious 
form,  and  it  acts  in  some  such  way  as  this. 
Every  sincere  man  who  sets  out  in  the  Chris- 
tian race  begins  by  attempting  to  exercise  the 
spiritual  faculties  for  himself.  The  young  life 
throbs  in  his  veins,  and  he  sets  himself  to  the 
further  progress  with  earnest  purpose  and 
resolute  will.  For  a  time  he  bids  fair  to 
22 


338  PARASITISM. 

attain  a  high  and  original  development.  But 
the  temptation  to  relax  the  always  difficult 
effort  at  spirituality  is  greater  than  he  knows. 
The  "  carnal  mind  "  itself  is  "  enmity  against 
God,"  and  the  antipathy,  or  the  deadlier 
apathy  within,  is  unexpectedly  encouraged 
from  that  very  outside  source  from  which  he 
anticipates  the  greatest  help.  Connecting  him- 
self with  a  Church  he  is  no  less  interested  than 
surprised  to  find  how  rich  is  the  provision 
there  for  every  part  of  his  spiritual  nature. 
Each  service  satisfies  or  surfeits.  Twice,  or 
even  three  times  a  week,  this  feast  is  spread 
for  him.  The  thoughts  are  deeper  than  his 
own,  the  faith  keener,  the  worship  loftier,  the 
whole  ritual  more  reverent  and  splendid. 
What  more  natural  than  that  he  should  grad- 
ually exchange  his  personal  religion  for  that 
of  the  congregation  ?  What  more  likely  than 
that  a  public  religion  should  by  insensible 
stages  supplant  his  individual  faith?  What 
more  simple  than  to  content  himself  with  the 
warmth  of  another's  soul  ?  What  more  tempt- 
ing than  to  give  up  private  prayer  for  the 
easier  worship  of  the  liturgy  or  of  the  church  ? 
What,  in  short,  more  natural  than  for  the  in- 
dependent, free-moving,  growing  Sacculina  to 
degenerate  into  the  listless,  useless,  pampered 
parasite  of  the  pew?  The  very  means  he 
takes  to  nurse  his  personal  religion  often  come 
in  time  to  wean  him  from  it.  Hanging  admir- 
ingly, or  even  enthusiastically,  on  the  lips  of 
eloquence,  his  senses  now  stirred  by  ceremony, 
now  soothed  by  music,  the  parasite  of  the  pew 


PARASITISM.  33S 

enjoys  his  weekly  worship — his  character  un- 
touched, his  will  unbraced,  his  crude  soul  un- 
quickened  and  unimproved.  Thus,  instead  of 
ministering  to  the  growth  of  individual  mem- 
bers, and  very  often  just  in  proportion  to  the 
superior  excellence  of  the  provision  made  for 
them  by  another,  does  this  gigantic  system  of 
deputy-nutrition  tend  to  destroy  development 
and  arrest  the  genuine  culture  of  the  soul. 
Our  churches  overflow  with  members  who  are 
mere  consumers.  Their  interest  in  religion  is 
purely  parasitic.  Their  only  spiritual  exercise 
is  the  automatic  one  of  imbibition,  the  clergy- 
man being  the  faithful  Hermit-crab  who  is  to 
be  depended  on  every  Sunday  for  at  least  a 
week's  supply. 

A  physiologist  would  describe  the  organism 
resulting  from  such  a  process  as  a  case  of 
"arrested  development."  Instead  of  having 
learned  to  pray,  the  ecclesiastical  parasite  be- 
comes satisfied  with  being  prayed  for.  His 
transactions  with  the  Eternal  are  effected  by 
commission.  His  work  for  Christ  is  done  by 
a  paid  deputy.  His  whole  life  is  a  prolonged 
indulgence  in  the  bounties  of  the  Church ;  and 
surely — in  some  cases  at  least  the  crowning 
irony — he  sends  for  the  minister  when  he  lies 
down  to  die. 

Other  signs  and  consequences  of  this  species 
of  parasitism  soon  become  very  apparent.  The 
first  symptom  is  idleness.  When  a  Church  is 
off  its  true  diet  it  is  off  its  true  work.  Hence 
one  explanation  of  the  hundreds  of  large  and 
influential  congregations  ministered  to  from 


340  PARASITISM. 

week  to  week  by  men  of  eminent  learning  and 
earnestness,  which  yet  do  little  or  nothing  in 
the  line  of  these  special  activities  for  which  all 
churches  exist.  An  outstanding  man  at  the 
head  of  a  huge,  useless  and  torpid  congregation 
IB  always  a  puzzle.  But  is  the  reason  not  this» 
that  the  congregation  gets  too  good  food  too 
cheap  ?  Providence  has  mercifully  delivered 
the  Church  from  too  many  great  men  in  her 
pulpits,  but  there  are  enough  in  every  country- 
side to  play  the  host  disastrously  to  a  large 
circle  of  otherwise  able-bodied  Christian  people, 
who,  thrown  on  their  own  resources,  might 
fatten  themselves  and  help  others.  There  are 
compensations  to  a  flock  for  a  poor  minister 
after  all.  Where  the  fare  is  indifferent  those 
who  are  really  hungry  will  exert  themselves  to 
procure  their  own  supply. 

That  the  Church  has  indispensable  functions 
to  discharge  to  the  individual  is  not  denied ; 
but  taking  into  consideration  the  universal 
tendency  to  parasitism  in  the  human  soul,  it 
is  a  grave  question  whether  in  some  cases  it 
does  not  really  effect  more  harm  than  good. 
A  dead  church  certainly,  a  church  having  no 
reaction  on  the  community,  a  church  without 
propagative  power  in  the  world,  cannot  be  other 
than  a  calamity  to  all  within  its  borders.  Such 
a  church  is  an  institution,  first  for  making, 
then  for  screening  parasites;  and  instead  of 
representing  to  the  world  the  Kingdom  of  God 
on  earth,  it  is  despised  alike  by  godly  and  by 
godless  men  as  the  reiuge  for  fear  and  for- 
malism and  the  nursery  of  superstition. 


PARASITISM.  341 

And  this  suggests  a  second  and  not  less 
practical  evil  of  a  parasitic  piety — that  it 
presents  to  the  world  a  false  conception  of  the 
religion  of  Christ.  One  notices  with  a  fre- 
quency which  may  well  excite  alarm  that  the 
children  of  church-going  parents  often  break 
away  as  they  grow  in  intelligence,  not  only  from 
church-connection  but  from  the  whole  system 
of  family  religion.  In  some  cases  this  is  doubt- 
less due  to  natural  perversity,  but  in  others  it 
certainly  arises  from  the  hollowness  of  the  out- 
ward forms  which  pass  current  in  society  and  at 
home  for  vital  Christianity.  These  spurious 
forms,  fortunately  or  unfortunately,  soon  betray 
themselves.  How  little  there  is  in  them  be- 
comes gradually  apparent.  And  rather  than 
indulge  in  a  sham  the  budding  sceptic,  as  the 
first  step,  parts  with  the  form,  and  in  nine 
cases  out  of  ten  concerns  himself  no  further  to 
find  a  substitute.  Quite  deliberately,  quite 
honestly,  sometimes  with  real  regret  and  even 
at  personal  sacrifice,  he  takes  up  his  position, 
and  to  his  parent's  sorrow  and  his  church's 
dishonor  forsakes  forever  the  faith  and  re- 
ligion of  his  fathers.  Who  will  deny  that  this 
is  a  true  account  of  the  natural  history  of  much 
modern  scepticism  ?  A  formal  religion  can 
never  hold  its  own  in  the  nineteenth  century. 
It  is  better  that  it  should  not.  We  must  either 
be  real  or  cease  to  be.  We  must  either  give 
up  our  Parasitism  or  our  sons. 

Any  one  who  will  take  the  trouble  to  investi- 
gate a  number  of  cases,  where  whole  families 
of  outwardly  godly  parents  have  gone  astray, 


342  PARASITISM. 

will  probably  find  that  the  household  religion 
had  either  some  palpable  defect,  or  belonged 
essentially  to  the  parasitic  order.  The  popular 
belief  that  the  sons  of  clergymen  turn  out 
worse  than  those  of  the  laity  is,  of  course,  with- 
out foundation ;  but  it  may  also  probably  be 
verified  that  in  the  instances  where  clergymen's 
sons  notoriously  discredit  their  father's  minis- 
try, that  ministry  in  a  majority  of  cases  will  be 
found  to  be  professional  and  theological  rather 
than  human  and  spiritual.  Sequences  in  the 
moral  and  spiritual  world  follow  more  closely 
than  we  yet  discern  the  great  law  of  Heredity. 
The  Parasite  begets  the  Parasite — only  in  the 
second  generation  the  offspring  are  sometimes 
sufficiently  wise  to  make  the  discovery,  and 
honest  enough  to  proclaim  it. 

We  now  pass  on  to  the  consideration  of  an- 
other form  of  Parasitism  which,  though  closely 
related  to  that  just  discussed,  is  of  sufficient 
importance  to  justify  a  separate  reference. 
Appealing  to  a  somewhat  smaller  circle,  but 
affecting  it  not  less  disastrously,  is  the  Para- 
sitism induced  by  certain  abuses  of  Systems  of 
Theology. 

in  its  own  place,  of  course,  Theology  is  no 
more  to  be  dispensed  with  than  the  Church. 
In  every  perfect  religious  system  three  great 
departments  must  always  be  represented — 
criticism,  dogmatism,  and  evangelism.  With- 
out the  first  there  is  no  guarantee  of  truth, 
without  the  second  no  defence  of  truth,  and 
without  the  third  no  propagation  of  truth. 
Bnt  when  these  departments  become  mixed  up, 


PARASITISM.  343 

when  their  separate  functions  are  forgotten, 
when  one  is  made  to  do  duty  for  another,  or 
where  either  is  developed  by  the  church  or  the 
individual  at  the  expense  of  the  rest,  the  result 
is  fatal.  The  particular  abuse,  however,  of 
which  we  have  now  to  speak,  concerns  the 
tendency  in  orthodox  communities,  first  to  exalt 
orthodoxy  above  all  other  elements  in  religion, 
and  secondly  to  make  the  possession  of  sound 
beliefs  equivalent  to  the  possession  of  truth. 

Doctrinal  preaching,  fortunately,  as  a  con- 
stant practice  is  less  f n  vogue  than  in  a  former 
age,  but  there  are  still  large  numbers  whose 
only  contact  with  religion  is  through  theo- 
logical forms.  The  method  is  supported  by 
a  plausible  defence.  What  is  doctrine  but  a 
compressed  form  of  truth,  systematized  by 
able  and  pious  men,  and  sanctioned  by  the 
imprimatur  of  the  Church?  If  the  greatest 
minds  of  the  Church's  past,  having  exercised 
themselves  profoundly  upon  the  problems  of 
religion,  formulated  as  with  one  voice  a  system 
of  doctrine,  why  should  the  humble  inquirer 
not  gratefully  accept  it?  Why  go  over  the 
ground  again  ?  Why  with  his  dim  light  should 
he  betake  himself  afresh  to  Bible  study  and 
with  so  great  a  body  of  divinity  already  com- 
piled, presume  himself  to  be  still  a  seeker  after 
truth?  Does  not  Theology  give  him  Bible 
truth  in  reliable,  convenient  and  moreover,  in 
logical  propositions?  There  it  lies  extended 
to  the  last  detail  in  the  tomes  of  the  Fathers, 
or  abridged  in  a  hundred  modern  compendia 
ready-made  to  his  hand,  all  cut  and  dry,  guar- 
anteed sound  and  wholesome,  why  not  use  itf 


344  PARASITISM. 

Just  because  it  is  all  cut  and  dry.  Just 
because  it  is  ready-made.  Just  because  it  lies 
there  in  reliable,  convenient  and  logical  prop- 
ositions. The  moment  you  appropriate  truth 
in  such  a  shape  you  appropriate  a  form.  You 
cannot  cut  and  dry  truth.  You  cannot  accept 
truth  ready-made  without  it  ceasing  to  nourish 
the  soul  as  truth.  You  cannot  live  on  theo- 
logical forms  without  becoming  a  Parasite  and 
ceasing  to  be  a  man. 

There  is  no  worse  enemy  to  a  living  Church 
than  a  prepositional  theology,  with  the  latter 
controlling  the  former  by  traditional  authority. 
For  one  does  not  then  receive  the  truth  for 
himself,  he  accepts  it  bodily.  He  begins  the 
Christian  life  set  up  by  his  Church  with  a 
stock-in-trade  which  has  cost  him  nothing,  and 
which,  though  it  may  serve  him  all  his  life,  is 
just  exactly  worth  as  much  as  his  belief  in  his 
Church.  This  possession  of  truth,  moreover, 
thus  lightly  won,  is  given  to  him  as  infallible. 
It  is  a  system.  There  is  nothing  to  add  to  it. 
At  his  peril  let  him  question  or  take  from  it. 
To  start  a  convert  in  life  with  such  a  principle 
is  unspeakably  degrading.  All  through  life 
instead  of  working  towards  truth  he  must 
work  from  it.  An  infallible  standard  is  a 
temptation  to  a  mechanical  faith.  Infallibility 
always  paralyzes.  It  gives  rest ;  but  it  is  the 
rest  of  stagnation.  Men  perform  one  great  act 
of  faith  at  the  beginning  of  their  life,  then  have 
done  with  it  forever.  All  moral,  intellectual 
and  spiritual  effort  is  over ;  and  a  cheap  the 
ology  ends  in  a  cheap  life. 


PARASITISM.  845 

The  same  thing  that  makes  men  take  refuge 
in  the  Church  of  Rome  makes  them  take  refuge 
in  a  set  of  dogmas.  Infallibility  meets  the 
deepest  desire  of  man,  but  meets  it  in  the  most 
fatal  form.  Men  deal  with  the  hunger  after 
truth  in  two  ways.  First  by  Unbelief— which 
crushes  it  by  blind  force;  or,  secondly,  by 
resorting  to  some  external  source  credited  with 
Infallibility — which  lulls  it  to  sleep  by  blind 
faith.  The  effect  of  a  doctrinal  theology  is  the 
effect  of  Infallibility.  And  the  wholesale  belief 
in  such  a  system,  however  accurate  it  may 
be — grant  even  that  it  were  infallible — is  not 
Faith  though  it  always  gets  that  name.  It  is 
mere  Credulity.  It  is  a  complacent  and  idle 
rest  upon  authority,  not  a  hard-earned,  self- 
obtained,  personal  possession.  The  moral 
responsibility  here,  besides,  is  reduced  to 
nothing.  Those  who  framed  the  Thirty-nine 
Articles  or  the  Westminster  Confession  are 
responsible.  And  anything  which  destroys 
responsibility,  or  transfers  it,  cannot  be  other 
than  injurious  in  its  moral  tendency  and  use- 
less in  itself. 

It  may  be  objected  perhaps  that  this  state- 
ment of  the  paralysis  spiritual  and  mental 
induced  by  Infallibility  applies  also  to  the 
Bible.  The  answer  is  that  though  the  Bible  is 
infallible,  the  Infallibility  is  not  in  such  a  form 
as  to  become  a  temptation.  There  is  the 
widest  possible  difference  between  the  form  of 
truth  in  the  Bible  and  the  form  in  theology. 

In  theology  truth  is  propositional — tied  up 
in  neat  parcels,  systematized,  and  arranged  in 


346  PARASITISM. 

logical  order.  The  Trinity  is  an  intricate 
doctrinal  problem.  The  Supreme  Being  is 
discussed  in  terms  of  philosophy.  The  Atone- 
ment is  a  formula  which  is  to  be  demonstrated 
like  a  proposition  in  Euclid.  And  Justification 
is  to  be  worked  out  as  a  question  of  jurispru- 
dence. There  is  no  necessary  connection  be- 
tween these  doctrines  and  the  life  of  him  who 
holds  them.  They  make  him  orthodox,  not 
necessarily  righteous.  They  satisfy  the  intel- 
lect but  need  not  touch  the  heart.  It  does  not,, 
in  short,  take  a  religious  man  to  be  a  theologian. 
It  simply  takes  a  man  with  fair  reasoning 
powers.  This  man  happens  to  apply  these 
powers  to  theological  subjects — but  in  no  other 
sense  than  he  might  apply  them  to  astronomy  or 
physics.  But  truth  in  the  Bible  is  a  fountain. 
It  is  a  diffused  nutriment,  so  diffused  that  no 
one  can  put  himself  off  with  the  form.  It  is 
reached  not  by  thinking,  but  by  doing.  It  is 
seen,  discerned,  not  demonstrated.  It  cannot 
be  bolted  whole,  but  must  be  slowly  absorbed 
into  the  system.  Its  vagueness  to  the  mere 
intellect,  its  refusal  to  be  packed  into  portable 
phrases,  its  satisfying  unsatisfyingness,  its 
vast  atmosphere,  its  finding  of  us,  its  mystical 
hold  of  us,  these  are  the  tokens  of  its  infinity. 
Nature  never  provides  for  man's  wants  in  any 
direction,  bodily,  mental,  or  spiritual,  in  such 
a  form  as  that  he  can  simply  accept  her  gifts 
automatically.  She  puts  all  the  mechanical 
powers  at  his  disposal — but  he  must  make  bis 
lever.  She  gives  him  corn,  but  he  must  grind 
it.  She  elaborates  coal,  but  be  must  dig  for  it 


PARASITISM.  347 

Corn  is  perfect,  all  the  products  of  Nature  are 
perfect,  but  he  has  everything  to  do  to  them 
before  he  can  use  them.  So  with  truth  ;  it  is 
perfect,  infallible.  But  he  cannot  use  it  as  it 
stands.  He  must  work,  think  separate,  dis- 
solve, absorb,  digest ;  and  most  of  these  he 
must  do  for  himself  and  within  himself.  If  it 
be  replied  that  this  is  exactly  what  theology 
does,  we  answer  it  is  exactly  what  it  does  not. 
It  simply  does  what  the  greengrocer  does  when 
he  arranges  his  apples  and  plums  in  his  shop- 
window.  He  may  tell  me  a  magnum  bonum 
from  a  Victoria,  or  a  Baldwin  from  a  Newton 
Pippin.  But  he  does  not  help  me  to  eat  it. 
His  information  is  useful,  and  for  scientific 
horticulture  essential.  Should  a  sceptical 
pomologist  deny  that  there  was  such  a  thing 
as  a  Baldwin,  or  mistake  it  for  a  Newton  Pip- 
pin, we  should  be  glad  to  refer  to  him ;  but 
if  we  were  hungry,  and  an  orchard  were  handy, 
we  should  not  trouble  him.  Truth  in  the  Bible 
is  an  orchard  rather  than  a  museum.  Dogma- 
tism will  be  very  valuable  to  us  when  scientific 
necessity  makes  us  go  to  the  museum.  Criti- 
cism will  be  very  useful  in  seeing  that  only 
fruit-bearers  grow  in  the  orchard.  But  truth 
in  the  doctrinal  form  is  not  natural,  proper, 
assimilable  food  for  the  soul  of  man. 

Is  this  a  plea  then  for  doubt  ?  Yes,  for  that 
philosophic  doubt  which  is  the  evidence  of  a 
faculty  doing  its  own  work.  It  is  more  neces- 
sary for  us  to  be  active  than  to  be  orthodox. 
To  be  orthodox  is  what  we  wish  to  be,  but  we 
can  only  truly  reach  it  by  being  honest,  by 


343  PARASITISM. 

being  original,  by  seeing  with  our  own  eyes,  by 
believing  with  our  own  heart.  "  An  idle  life," 
says  Goethe,  "is  death  anticipated."  Better 
far  be  burned  at  the  stake  of  Public  Opinion 
than  die  the  living  death  of  Parasitism.  Better 
an  aberrant  theology  than  a  suppressed  organi- 
zation. Better  a  little  faith  dearly  won,  better 
launched  alone  on  the  infinite  bewilderment  of 
Truth,  than  perish  on  the  splendid  plenty  of 
the  richest  creeds.  Such  Doubt  is  no  self- 
willed  presumption.  Nor,  truly  exercised,  will 
it  prove  itself,  as  much  doubt  does,  the  synonym 
for  sorrow.  It  aims  at  a  lifelong  learning,  pre- 
pared for  any  sacrifice  of  will,  yet  for  none 
of  independence;  at  that  high  progressive 
education  which  yields  rest  in  work  and  work 
in  rest,  and  the  development  of  immortal  facul- 
ties in  both ;  at  that  deeper  faith  which  believes 
in  the  vastness  and  variety  of  the  revelations 
of  God,  and  their  accessibility  to  all  obedient 
hearts. 


CLASSIFICATION. 


"I  judge  of  the  order  of  the  world,  although  I 
know  not  its  end,  because  to  judge  of  this  order  I  only 
need  mutually  to  compare  the  parts,  to  study  their 
functions,  their  relations,  and  to  remark  their  concert. 
I  know  not  why  the  universe  exists,  but  I  do  not 
desist  from  seeing  how  it  is  modified  ;  I  do  not  cease 
to  see  the  intimate  agreement  by  which  the  beings  that 
compose  it  render  a  mutual  help.  I  am  like  a  man 
who  should  see  for  the  first  time  an  open  watch,  who 
should  not  cease  to  admire  the  workmanship  of  it, 
although  he  knows  not  the  use  of  the  machine,  and 
had  never  seen  dials.  I  do  not  know,  he  would  say, 
what  all  this  is  for,  but  I  see  that  each  piece  is  made 
for  the  others  ;  I  admire  the  worker  in  the  detail  of 
his  work,  and  I  am  very  sure  that  all  these  wheel- 
works  only  go  thus  in  concert  for  a  commonend  which 
I  cannot  perceive."  ROUSSEAU. 


CLASSIFICATION. 

"  That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh  ;  and  thai 
which  is  born  of  the  Spirit  is  spirit." — Christ. 

"  In  early  attempts  to  arrange  organic  beings  in  some 
systematic  manner,  we  see  at  first  a  guidance  by  conspicu- 
ous and  simple  characters,  and  a  tendency  towards  ar- 
rangement in  linear  order.  In  successively  later  at- 
tempts, we  see  more  regard  paid  to  combinations  of 
character  which  are  essential  but  often  inconspicuous  ; 
and  a  gradual  abandonment  of  a  linear  arrangement." — 
Herbert  Spencer. 

Ox  one  of  the  shelves  in  a  certain  museum 
lie  two  small  boxes  filled  with  earth.  A  low 
mountain  in  Arran  has  furnished  the  first ;  the 
contents  of  the  second  came  from  the  Island  of 
Barbadoes.  When  examined  with  a  pocket 
lens,  the  Arran  earth  is  found  to  be  full  of 
small  objects,  clear  as  crystal,  fashioned  by 
some  mysterious  geometry  into  forms  of  ex- 
quisite symmetry.  The  substance  is  silica,  a 
natural  glass ;  and  the  prevailing  shape  is  a 
six-sided  prism  capped  at  either  end  by  little 
pyramids  modelled  with  consummate  grace. 

When  the  second  specimen  is  examined,  the 
revelation  is,  if  possible,  more  surprising. 
Here,  also,  is  a  vast  assemblage  of  small  glassy 
or  porcellaneous  objects  built  up  into  curious 
forms.  The  material,  chemically,  remains  the 
same,  but  the  angles  of  pyramid  and  prism  have 


352  CLASSIFICATION. 

given  place  to  curved  lines,  so  that  the  contour 
is  entirely  different.  The  appearance  is  that 
of  a  vast  collection  of  microscopic  urns,  gob- 
lets, and  vases,  each  richly  ornamented  with 
small  sculptured  discs  or  perforations  which 
are  disposed  over  the  pure  white  surface  in 
regular  belts  and  rows.  Each  tiny  urn  is 
chiselled  into  the  most  faultless  proportion, 
and  the  whole  presents  a  vision  of  magic 
beauty. 

Judged  by  the  standard  of  their  loveliness 
there  is  little  to  choose  between  these  two  sets 
of  objects.  Yet  there  is  one  cardinal  difference 
between  them.  They  belong  to  different 
worlds.  The  last  belong  to  the  living  world, 
the  former  to  the  dead.  The  first  are  crystals, 
the  last  are  shells. 

No  power  on  earth  can  make  these  little  urns 
of  the  Polycystince  except  Life.  We  can  melt 
them  down  in  the  laboratory,  but  no  ingenuity 
of  chemistry  can  reproduce  their  sculptured 
forms.  We  are  sure  that  Life  has  formed 
them,  however,  for  tiny  creatures  allied  to  those 
which  made  the  Barbadoes'  earth  are  living 
still,  fashioning  their  fairy  palaces  of  flint  in 
the  same  mysterious  way.  On  the  other  hand, 
chemistry  has  no  difficulty  in  making  these 
crystals.  We  can  melt  down  this  Arran  earth 
and  reproduce  the  pyramids  and  prisms  in  end- 
less numbers.  N"ay,  if  we  do  melt  it  down,  we 
cannot  help  reproducing  the  pyramid  and  the 
prism.  There  is  a  six-sidedness,  as  it  were,  in 
the  very  nature  of  this  substance  which  will 
infallibly  manifest  itself  if  the  crystallizing 


CLA  SSIFICA  TION.  353; 

substance  only  be  allowed  fair  play.  This  six- 
sided  tendency  is  its  Law  of  Crystallization — 
a  law  of  its  nature  which  it  cannot  resist.  But 
in  the  crystal  there  is  nothing  at  all  correspond- 
ing to  Life.  There  is  simply  an  inherent  force 
which  can  be  called  into  action  at  any  moment, 
and  which  cannot  be  separated  from  the  par- 
ticles in  which  it  resides.  The  crystal  may  be 
ground  to  pieces,  but  this  force  remains  intact. 
And  even  after  being  reduced  to  powder,  and 
running  the  gauntlet  of  every  process  in  the 
chemical  laboratory,  the  moment  the  substance 
is  left  to  itself  under  possible  conditions  it  will 
proceed  to  recrystallize  anew.  But  if  the 
Polycystine  urn  be  broken,  no  inorganic  agency 
can  build  it  up  again.  So  far  as  any  inherent 
urn-building  power,  analogous  to  the  crystal- 
line force,  is  concerned,  it  might  lie  there  in 
a  shapeless  mass  forever.  That  which  mod- 
elled it  at  first  is  gone  from  it.  It  was  Vital,; 
while  the  force  which  built  the  crystal  was  only 
Molecular. 

From  an  artistic  point  of  view  this  distinc- 
tion is  of  small  importance.  ^Esthetically,  the 
Law  of  Crystallization  is  probably  as  useful 
in  ministering  to  natural  beauty  as  Vitality. 
What  are  more  beautiful  than  the  crystals  of  a> 
snowflake  ?  Or  what  frond  of  fern  or  feather 
of  bird  can  vie  with  the  tracery  of  the  frost 
upon  a  window-pane?  Can  it  be  said  that  the 
lichen  is  more  lovely  than  the  striated  crystals 
of  the  granite  on  which  it  grows,  or  the  moss 
on  the  mountain-side  more  satisfying  than  the 
hidden  amethyst  and  cairngorm  in  the  rock: 
23 


354  CLASSIFICATION. 

beneath  ?  Or  is  the  botanist  more  astonished 
when  his  microscope  reveals  the  architecture 
of  spiral  tissue  in  the  stem  of  a  plant,  or  the 
mineralogist  who  beholds  for  the  first  time  the 
chaos  of  beauty  in  the  sliced  specimen  of  some 
common  stone?  So  far  as  beauty  goes  the 
organic  world  and  the  inorganic  are  one. 

To  the  man  of  science,  however,  this  identity 
of  beauty  signifies  nothing.  His  concern,  in  the 
first  instance,  is  not  with  the  forms  but  with  the 
natures  of  things.  It  is  no  valid  answer  to  him, 
when  he  asks  the  difference  between  the  moss 
and  the  cairngorm,  the  frost-work  and  the  rn, 
to  be  assured  that  both  are  beautiful.  Toi  no 
fundamental  distinction  in  Science  depend ., 
upon  beauty.  He  wants  an  answer  in  terms  of 
chemistry,  are  they  organic  or  inorg  viiic  ?  or  in 
terms  of  biology,  are  they  living  r  dead ".  Bu 
when  he  is  told  that  the  one  is  'iving  and  the 
other  dead,  he  is  in  possession  of  a  characteristic 
and  fundamental  scientific  distinction.  From 
this  point  of  view,  however  much  they  may 
possess  in  common  of  material  substance  and 
beauty,  they  are  separated  from  one  another 
by  a  wide  and  unbridged  gulf.  The  lassifica- 
tion  of  these  forms,  therefore,  depends  upon 
the  standpoint,  and  we  should  pronounce  them 
like  or  unlike,  related  or  unrelated,  according 
as  we  judged  them  from  the  point  of  view  of 
Art  or  Science. 

The  drift  of  these  introductory  paragraphs 
must  already  be  apparent.  We  propose  to  in- 
quire whether  among  men,  clothed  apparently 
with  a  common  beauty  of  character,  there  may 


CLA  SSIF1CA  TION.  355 

flot  yet  be  distinctions  as  radical  as  betweea 
the  crystal  and  the  shell ;  and,  further,  whether 
the  current  classification  of  men,  based  upon 
Moral  Beauty,  is  wholly  satisfactory  either 
from  the  standpoint  of  Science  or  of  Christian* 
ity.  Here,  for  example,  are  two  characters, 
pure  and  elevated,  adorned  with  conspicuous 
virtues,  stirred  by  lofty  impulses,  and  com- 
manding a  spontaneous  admiration  from  all 
who  look  on  them — may  not  this  similarity  of 
outward  form  be  accompanied  by  a  total  dis- 
similarity of  inward  nature  ?  Is  the  external 
appearance  the  truest  criterion  of  the  ultimate 
nature  ?  Or,  as  in  the  crystal  and  the  shell, 
may  there  not  exist  distinctions  more  profound 
and  basal?  The  distinctions  drawn  between 
men,  in  short,  are  commonly  based  on  the  out- 
ward appearance  of  goodness  or  badness,  on  the 
ground  of  moral  beauty  or  moral  deformity- 
is  this  classification  scientific?  Or  is  there  a 
deeper  distinction  between  the  Christian  and 
the  not-a-Christian  as  fundamental  as  that 
between  the  organic  and  the  inorganic? 

There  can  belittle  doubt,  to  begin  with,  that 
with  the  great  majority  of  people  religion  is> 
regarded  as  essentially  one  with  morality. 
Whole  schools  of  philosophy  have  treated  the 
Christian  Religion  as  a  questi  n  of  beauty,  and 
discussed  its  place  among  other  systems  of 
ethics.  Even  those  systems  of  theology  which 
profess  to  draw  a  deeper  distinction  have  rarely 
succeeded  in  establishing  it  upon  any  valid 
basis,  or  seem  even  to  have  made  that  distinc- 
tion perceptible  to  others.  So  little,  indeed,  ha* 


356  CLA  SSIFICA  TION. 

the  rationale  of  the  science  of  religion  been 
understood  that  there  is  still  no  more  unsatis- 
factory province  in  theology  than  where  mor- 
ality and  religion  are  contrasted,  and  the  ad- 
justment attempted  between  moral  philosophy 
and  what  are  known  as  the  doctrines  of  grace. 
Examples  of  this  confusion  are  so  numerous 
that  if  one  were  to  proceed  to  prooi  he  would 
have  to  cite  almost  the  entire  European  phi- 
losophy  of  the  last  three  hundred  years.  From 
Spinoza  downward  through  the  whole  natural- 
istic school,  Moral  Beauty  is  persistently  re- 
garded as  synonymous  with  religion  and  the 
spiritual  life.  The  most  earnest  thinking  of 
the  present  day  is  steeped  in  the  same  con- 
fusion. We  have  even  the  remarkable  spec- 
tacle presented  to  us  just  now  of  a  sublime 
Morality-Religion  divorced  from  Christianity 
altogether,  and  wedded  to  the  baldest  form  of 
materialism.  It  is  claimed,  moreover,  that  the 
moral  scheme  of  this  high  atheism  is  loftier  and 
more  perfect  than  that  of  Christianity,  and 
men  are  asked  to  take  their  choice  as  if  the 
morality  were  everything,  the  Christianity  or 
the  atheism  vlucb  nourished  it  being  neither 
here  nor  there.  Others,  again,  studying  this 
moral  beauty  carefully,  have  detected  a  some- 
thing in  its  Chri  tian  forms  which  has  com- 
pelled them  to  declare  thaj  a  distinction  cer- 
tainly exists.  Bu'  in  scarcely  a  single  instance 
is  the  gravity  of  the  distinction  more  than 
dimly  apprehended.  Few  conceive  of  it  as 
other  than  a  difference  of  degree,  or  could  give 
a  more  definite  account  of  i',  than  Mr.  Matthew 


CLASSIFICATION.  357 

Arnold's  "  Religion  is  morality  touched  by 
Emotion  " — an  utterance  significant  mainly  as 
the  testimony  of  an  acute  mind  that  a  dis- 
tinction of  some  kind  does  exist.  In  a  recent 
Symposium  where  the  question  as  to  "  The  in- 
fluence upon  Morality  of  a  decline  in  Religious 
Belief,"  was  discussed  at  length  by  writers  of 
whom  this  century  is  justly  proud,  there  ap- 
pears scarcely  so  much  as  a  recognition  of  the 
fathomless  chasm  separating  the  leading  terms 
of  debate. 

If  beauty  is  the  criterion  of  religion,  this 
view  of  the  relation  of  religion  to  morality  is 
justified.  But  what  if  there  be  the  same  dif- 
ference in  the  beauty  of  two  separate  characters 
that  there  is  between  the  mineral  and  the 
shell  ?  What  if  there  be  a  moral  beauty  and  a 
spiritual  beauty  ?  What  answer  shall  we  get 
if  we  demand  a  more  scientific  distinction 
between  characters  than  that  based  on  mere 
outward  form?  It  is  not  enough  from  the 
standpoint  of  biological  religion  to  say  of  two 
characters  that  both  are  beautiful.  For,  again, 
no  fundamental  distinction  in  Science  depends 
upon  beauty.  We  ask  an  answer  in  terms  of 
biology,  are  they  flesh  or  spirit ;  are  they  living 
or  dead? 

If  this  is  really  a  scientific  question,  if  it  is  a 
question  not  of  moral  philosophy  only,  but  of 
biology,  we  are  compelled  to  repu  iate  beauty 
as  the  criterion  of  spirituality.  It  is  not,  of 
course,  meant  by  this  that  spiritualty  is  not 
morally  beautiful.  Spirituality  must  be  morally 
very  beautiful— so  much  so  that  popularly  one 


358  CLA  SSIFICA  TTOH. 

is  justified  in  judging  of  religion  by  its  beauty. 
Nor  is  it  meant  that  morality  is  not  a  crite- 
rion. All  that  is  contended  for  is  that,  from 
the  scientific  standpoint,  it  is  not  the  criterion. 
We  can  judge  of  the  crystal  and  the  shell  from 
many  other  standpoints  besides  those  named, 
each  classification  having  an  importance  in  its 
own  sphere.  Thus  we  might  class  them  ac- 
cording to  their  size  and  weight,  their  percent- 
age of  silica,  their  use  in  the  arts,  or  their  com- 
mercial value.  Each  science  or  art  is  entitled 
to  regard  them  from  its  own  point  of  view; 
and  when  the  biologist  announces  his  classifi- 
cation he  does  not  interfere  with  those  based 
on  other  grounds.  Only,  having  chosen  his 
standpoint,  he  is  bound  to  frame  his  classifi- 
cation in  terms  of  it. 

It  may  be  well  to  state  emphatically,  that 
in  proposing  a  new  classification — or  rather, 
in  reviving  the  primitive  one — in  the  spiritual 
sphere  we  leave  untouched,  as  cf  supreme 
value  in  its  own  province,  the  test  of  morality. 
.Morality  is  certainly  a  test  of  religion — for 
most  practical  purposes  the  very  best  test. 
And  so  far  from  tending  to  depreciate  morality, 
the  bringing  into  prominence  of  the  true  basis 
is  entirely  in  its  interests — in  the  interests  of 
a  moral  beauty,  indeed,  infinitely  surpassing 
the  highest  attainable  perfection  on  merely 
natural  lines. 

The  warrant  for  seeking  a  further  classifica- 
tion is  twofold.  It  is  a  principle  in  science 
that  classification  should  rest  on  the  most 
basal  characteristics.  To  determine  what 


CLA  SSIFICA  TION*  359- 

these  are  may  not  always  be  easy,  but  it  is  at 
least  evident  that  a  classification  framed  on 
the  ultimate  nature  of  organisms  must  be' 
more  distinctive  than  one  based  on  external 
characters.  Before  the  principles  of  classifica- 
tion were  understood,  organisms  were  invaria- 
bly arranged  according  to  some  merely  exter- 
nal resemblance.  Thus  plants  were  classed 
according  to  size  as  Herbs,  Shrubs,  and  Trees; 
and  animals  according  to  their  appearance  as 
Birds,  Beasts,  and  Fishes.  The  Bat  upon  this 
principle  was  a  bird,  the  Whale  a  fish ;  and  so 
thoroughly  artificial  were  these  early  systems 
that  animals  were  often  tabulated  among  the 
plants,  and  plants  among  the  animals.  "In 
early  attempts,"  says  Herbert  Spencer,  "to 
arrange  organic  beings  in  some  systematic 
manner,  we  see  at  first  a  guidance  by  conspic- 
uous and  simple  characters,  and  a  tendency 
toward  arrangement  in  lineal  order.  In  suc- 
cessively later  attempts,  we  see  more  regard 
paid  to  combinations  of  characters  which  are- 
essential  but  often  inconspicuous;  and  a  grad- 
ual abandonment  of  a  linear  arrangement  for 
an  arrangement  in  divergent  groups  and  re- 
divergent  sub-groups.1  Almost  all  the  natural 
sciences  have  already  passed  through  these 
stages  ;  and  one  or  two  which  rested  entirely 
on  external  characters  have  all  but  ceased  to 
exist — Conchology,  for  example,  which  has- 
yielded  its  place  to  Malacology.  Following  ift 
the  wake  of  the  other  sciences,  the  classifica-- 

»  "Principles  of  Biology,"  p.  294, 


360  CLASSIFICATION. 

tions  of  Theology  may  have  to  be  remodelled 
in  the  same  way.  The  popular  classification, 
whatever  its  merits  from  a  practical  point  of 
view,  is  essentially  a  classification  based  on 
Morphology.  The  whole  tendency  of  science 
now  is  to  include  along  with  morphological 
considerations  the  profounder  generalizations 
of  Physiology  and  Embryology.  And  the  con- 
tribution of  the  latter  science  espe  ;ally  has 
been  found  so  important  that  biology  hence- 
forth must  look  for  its  classification  largely  to 
Embryological  character. 

But  apart  from  the  demand  of  modern  scien- 
tific culture  it  is  palpably  foreign  to  Christian- 
ity, not  merely  as  a  Philosophy  but  as  a 
Biology,  to  classify  men  only  in  terms  of  the 
former.  And  it  is  somewhat  remarkable  that 
the  writers  of  both  the  Old  and  Xew  Testa- 
ments seem  to  have  recognized  the  deeper 
basis.  The  favorite  classification  of  the  Old 
Testament  was  into  "  the  nations  which  knew 
God  "  and  "  the  nations  which  knew  not  God  " 
— a  distinction  which  we  have  formerly  seen 
to  be,  at  bottom,  biological.  In  the  New  Tes- 
tament again  the  ethical  characters  are  more 
prominent,  but  the  cardinal  di  tinctions  based 
on  regeneration,  if  not  alway^  actually  referred 
to,  are  throughout  kept  in  view,  both  in  the 
sayings  of  Christ  and  in  th  Epistles. 

What  then  is  the  deeper  distinction  drawn 
by  Christianity?  What  is  ch.  essential  differ- 
ence between  the  Christian  and  th  not-a-Chris- 
tian,  between  the  spiritual  beauty  and  the  mor- 
al beauty  ?  It  is  the  distinction  between  the 


CLASSIFICATION.  361 

Organic  and  the  Inorganic.  Moral  beauty  ia 
the  product  of  the  natural  man,  spiritual 
beauty  of  the  spiritual  man.  And  these  two, 
according  to  the  law  of  Biogenesis,  are  sepa- 
rated from  one  another  by  the  deepest  line 
known  to  Science.  This  Law  is  at  once  the 
foundation  of  Biology  and  of  Spiritual  religion. 
And  the  whole  fabric  of  Christianity  falls  into 
confusion  if  we  attempt  to  ignore  it.  The 
Law  of  Biogenesis,  in  fact,  is  to  be  regarded 
as  the  equivalent  in  biology  of  the  First  Law 
of  Motion  in  physics:  Every  body  continues 
in  its  state  of  rest  or  of  uniform  motion  in  a 
straight  line,  except  in  so  far  as  it  is  compelled 
by  forces  to  change  that  state.  The  first  Law 
of  biology  is :  That  which  is  Mineral  is  Min- 
eral ;  that  which  is  Flesh  is  Flesh ;  that  which 
is  Spirit  is  Spirit.  The  mineral  remains  in  the 
inorganic  world  until  it  is  seized  upon  by  a 
something  called  Life  outside  the  inorganic 
world  ;  the  natural  man  remains  the  natural 
man,  until  a  Spiritual  Life  from  without  the 
natural  life  seizes  upon  him,  regenerates  him, 
changes  him  into  a  spiritual  man.  The  peril  of 
the  illustration  from  the  law  of  motion  will 
not  be  felt  at  least  by  those  who  appreciate  the 
distinction  between  Physics  and  Biology,  be- 
tween Energy  and  Life.  The  change  of  state, 
here  is  not  as  in  physics  a  mere  change  of  direc- 
tion, the  affections  directed  to  a  new  object,  the 
will  into  a  new  channel.  The  change  involves 
all  this,  but  is  something  deeper.  It  is  a 
change  of  nature,  a  regeneration,  a  passing  from 
death  into  life.  Hence  relatively  to  this  higher 


362  CLASSIFICATION. 

life  the  natural  life  is  no  longer  Life,  but 
Death,  and  the  natural  man  from  the  stand- 
point of  Christianity  is  dead.  Whatever 
assent  the  mind  may  give  to  this  proposition, 
however  much  it  has  been  overlooked  in  the 
past,  however  it  compares  with  casual  observa- 
tion, it  is  certain  that  the  Founder  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion  intended  this  to  be  the  keystone 
of  Christianity.  In  the  proposition  That  which 
is  flesh  is  flesh,  and  that  which  is  spirit  is  spirit^ 
Christ  formulates  the  first  law  of  biological 
religion,  and  lays  the  basis  for  a  final  classifi- 
cation. He  divides  men  into  two  classes,  the 
living  and  the  not-living.  And  Paul  after- 
wards carries  out  the  classification  consistently, 
making  his  entire  system  depend  on  it,  and 
throughout  arranging  men,  en  the  one  hand  as 
TvsuijLa.Tix.6z — spiritual,  on  tha  cl/her  as  (fo-^ix.6^ — 
carnal,  in  terms  of  Christ's  distinction. 

Suppose  now  it  be  granted  for  a  moment 
that  the  character  of  the  not-a-Christian  is  as 
beautiful  as  that  of  the  Christian.  This  is. 
simply  to  say  that  the  crystal  is  as  beautiful 
as  the  organism.  One  is  quite  entitled  to  hold 
this  ;  but  what  he  is  not  entitled  to  hold  is 
that  both  in  the  same  sense  are  living.  He 
that  hath  the  Son  has  Life,  and  he «,.'  at  hath  not 
the  Son  of  God  has  not  Life.  And  i  tin  face 
of  this  law,  no  other  conclusion  is  possible  than 
that  that  which  is  flesh  remains  ile^h.  No 
matter  how  great  the  development  of  beauty, 
that  which  is  flesh  is  withal  flesh.  The 
elaborateness  or  the  perfection  of  the  moral 
development  in  any  given  instance  can  do 


CLASSIFICATION.  363 

nothing  to  break  down  this  distinction.  Man 
is  a  moral  animal,  and  can,  and  ought  to, 
arrive  at  great  natural  beauty  of  character. 
But  this  is  simply  to  obey  the  law  of  his  nature 
— the  law  of  his  flesh  ;  and  no  progress  along 
that  line  can  project  him  into  the  spiritual 
sphere.  If  any  one  choose  to  claim  that  the 
mineral  beauty,  the  fleshly  beauty,  the  natural 
morrfl  beauty,  is  all  he  covets,  he  is  entitled  to 
his  claim.  To  be  good  and  true,  pure  and 
benevolent  in  the  moral  sphere,  are  high,  and, 
so  far,  legitimate  objects  of  life.  If  he  delib- 
erately stop  here,  he  is  at  liberty  to  do  so.  But 
what  he  is  not  entitled  to  do  is  to  call  himself  a 
Christian,  or  to  claim  to  discharge  the  func- 
tions peculiar  to  the  Christian  life.  His  mor- 
ality is  mere  crystallization,  the  crystallizing 
forces  having  had  fair  play  in  his  development. 
But  these  forces  have  no  more  touched  the 
sphere  of  Christianity  than  the  frost  on  the 
window-pane  can  do  more  than  simulate  the 
•external  forms  of  life.  And  if  he  considers 
that  the  high  development  to  which  he  has 
reached  may  pass  by  an  insensible  transition 
into  spirituality,  or  that  his  moral  nature  of  it- 
self may  flash  into  the  flame  of  regenerate  Life, 
he  has  to  be  reminded  that  in  spite  of  the  ap- 
parent connection  of  these  things  from  one 
standpoint,  from  another  there  is  none  at  all, 
•or  none  discoverable  by  us.  On  the  one  hand, 
there  being  no  such  thing  as  Spontaneous 
Generation,  his  moral  nature,  however  it  may 
encourage  it,  cannot  generate  Life  ;  while,  on 
the  other,  his  high  organization  can  never  in 


364  CLASSIFICATION. 

itself  result  in  Life,  Life  being  always  the  cause 
of  organization  and  never  the  effect  of  it. 

The  practical  question  may  now  be  asked,  is 
this  distinction  palpable  ?  Is  it  a  mere  conceit 
of  Science,  or  what  human  interests  attach  to 
it  ?  If  it  cannot  be  proved  that  the  resulting 
moral  or  spiritual  beauty  is  higher  in  the  one 
case  than  in  the  other,  the  biological  distinc- 
tion is  useless.  And  if  the  objection  is  pressed 
that  the  spiritual  man  has  nothing  further  to 
effect  in  the  direction  of  morality,  seeing  that 
the  natural  man  can  successfully  compete  with 
him,  the  questions  thus  raised  become  of 
serious  significance.  That  objection  would  cer- 
tainly be  fatal  which  could  show  that  the 
spiritual  world  was  riot  as  high  in  its  demand 
for  a  lofty  morality  as  the  natural  ;  and  that 
biology  would  be  equally  false  and  dangerous 
which  should  in  the  least  encourage  the  view 
that  "  without  holiness  "  a  man  could  "  see  the 
Lord."  These  questions  accordingly  we  must 
briefly  consider.  It  is  necessary  to  premise 
however,  that  the  difficulty  is  not  peculiar  to 
the  present  position.  This  is  simply  the  old 
difficulty  of  distinguishing  spirituality  and 
morality. 

In  seeking  whatever  light  Science  may  have 
to  offer  as  to  the  difference  between  the  natural 
and  the  spiritual  man,  we  first  submit  the 
question  to  Embryology.  And  if  its  actual 
contribution  is  small,  we  shall  at  least  be  in- 
debted to  it  for  an  important  reason  why  the 
difficulty  should  exist  at  all.  That  there  is 
grave  difficulty  in  deciding  between  two  given 


CLASSIFICATION.  365 

characters,  the  one  natural,  the  other  spiritual, 
is  conceded.  But  if  we  can  find  a  sufficient 
justification  for  so  perplexing  a  circumstance, 
the  fact  loses  weight  as  an  objection,  and  the 
whole  problem  is  placed  on  a  different  foot- 
ing. 

The  difference  on  the  score  of  beauty  be- 
tween the  crystal  and  the  shell,  let  us  say  once 
more,  is  imperceptible.  But  fix  attention  for  a 
moment,  not  upon  their  appearance,  but  upon 
their  possibilities,  upon  their  relation  to  the 
future,  and  upon  their  place  in  evolution.  The 
crystal  has  reached  its  ultimate  stage  of  devel- 
opment. It  can  never  be  more  beautiful  than 
it  is  now.  Take  it  to  pieces  and  give  it  the 
opportunity  to  beautify  itself  afresh,  and  it 
will  just  do  the  same  thing  over  again.  It  will 
form  itself  into  a  six-sided  pyramid,  and  go  on 
repeating  this  same  form  ad  infinitum  as  often 
as  it  is  dissolved,  and  without  ever  improving 
by  a  hair's-breadth.  Its  law  of  crystallization 
allows  it  to  reach  this  limit,  and  nothing  else 
within  its  kingdom  can  do  any  more  for  it.  In 
dealing  with  the  crystal,  in  short,  we  are  deal- 
ing with  the  maximum  beauty  of  the  inorganic 
world.  But  in  dealing  with  the  shell,  we  are 
not  dealing  with  the  maximum  achievement  of 
the  organic  world.  '  In  itself  it  is  one  of  the 
humblest  forms  of  the  invertebrate  sub-king- 
dom of  the  organic  world ;  and  there  are  other 
forms  within  this  kingdom  so  different  from 
the  shell  in  a  hundred  respects  that  to  mistake 
them  would  simply  be  impossible. 

In  dealing  with  a  man  of  fine  moral  char- 


366  CLASSIFICATION. 

acter,  again,  we  are  dealing  with  the  highest 
achievement  of  the  organic  kingdom.  But  in 
dealing  with  a  spiritual  man  we  are  dealing 
with  the  lowest  form  of  life  in  the  spiritual 
icorld.  To  contrast  the  two,  ther  fore,  and. 
marvel  that  the  one  is  apparently  so  little 
better  than  the  other,  is  unscientific  and  un- 
just. The  spiritual  man  is  a  mere  unformed 
embryo,  hidden  as  yet  in  his  earthly  chrysalis- 
case,  while  the  natural  man  has  the  breeding 
and  evolution  of  ages  represented  in  his  char- 
acter. But  what  are  the  possibilities  of  this 
spiritual  organism  ?  What  is  yet  to  emerge 
from  this  chrysalis-case  ?  The  natural  char- 
acter finds  its  limits  within  the  organic  sphere. 
But  who  is  to  define  the  limits  of  the  spiritual  ? 
Even  now  it  is  very  beautiful.  Even  as  an 
embryo  it  contains  some  prophecy  of  its  future 
glory.  But  the  point  to  mark  is,  that  it  doth 
not  yet  appear  what  it  shall  be. 

The  want  of  organization,  thus,  does  not  sur- 
prise  us.  All  life  begins  at  the  Amoeboid  stage. 
Evolution  is  from  the  simple  to  the  complex ; 
and  in  every  case  it  is  some  time  before  organ- 
ization is  advanced  enough  to  admit  of  exact 
classification.  A  naturalist's  only  serious 
difficulty  in  classification  is  when  he  comes 
to  deal  with  low  or  embryonic  forms.  It  is 
impossible,  for  instance,  to  mistake  an  oak  for 
an  elephant ;  but  at  the  bottom  of  the  vege- 
table series,  and  at  the  bottom  of  the  animal 
series,  there  are  organisms  of  so  doubtful  a 
character  that  it  is  equally  impossible  to  dis- 
tinguish them.  So  formidable,  indeed,  has 


CLASSIFICATION.  367 

been  this  difficulty  that  Hasckel  has  had  to 
propose  an  intermediate  regnum  protisticiim  to 
contain  those  forms  the  rudimentary  character 
of  which  makes  it  impossible  to  apply  the  de- 
termining tests. 

We  mention  this  merely  to  show  the  diffi- 
culty of  classification  and  not  for  analogy ; 
for  the  proper  analogy  is  not  between  vege- 
table and  animal  forms,  whether  high  or  low, 
but  between  the  living  and  the  dead.  And 
hei-e  the  difficulty  is  certainly  not  so  great. 
By  suitable  tests  it  is  generally  possible  to  dis- 
tinguish the  organic  from  the  inorganic.  The 
•ordinary  eye  may  fail  to  detect  the  difference, 
and  innumerable  forms  are  assigned  by  the 
popular  judgment  to  the  inorganic  world  whicli 
are  nevertheless  undoubtedly  alive.  And  it  is 
the  same  in  the  spiritual  world.  To  a  cursory 
glance  these  rudimentary  spiritual  forms  may 
not  seem  to  exhibit  the  phenomena  of  Life,  and 
therefore  the  living  and  the  dead  may  be  often 
classed  as  one.  But  let  the  appropriate  scien- 
tific tests  be  applied.  In  the  almost  amor- 
phous organism,  the  physiologist  ought  already 
to  be  able  to  detect  the  symptoms  of  a  dawning 
life.  And  further  research  might  even  bring 
to  light  some  faint  indication  of  the  lines  along 
which  the  future  development  was  to  proceed. 
Now  it  is  not  impossible  that  among  the  tests 
for  Life  there  may  be  some  which  may  fitly  be 
applied  to  the  spiritual  organism.  We  may 
therefore  at  this  point  hand  over  the  problem 
to  Physiology. 

The  tests  for  Life  are  of  two  kinds.    It  is  re- 


868  CLA  SS1FICA  TION. 

markable  that  one  of  them  was  proposed,  in 
the  spiritual  sphere,  by  Christ.  Foreseeing  the 
lifficulty  of  determining  the  characters  and 
functions  of  rudimentary  organisms,  He  sug- 
gested that  the  point  be  decided  by  a  further 
evolution.  Time  for  development  was  to  be 
allowed,  during  which  the  marks  of  Life,  if 
any,  would  become  more  pronounced,  while  in 
the  meantime  judgment  was  to  be  suspended. 
"Let  both  grow  together,"  he  said,  "until  the 
harvest."  This  is  a  thoroughly  scientific  test. 
Obviously,  however,  it  cannot  assist  us  for  the 
present — except  in  the  way  of  enforcing  ex- 
treme caution  in  attempting  anv  classification 
at  all. 

The  second  test  is  at  least  not  so  manifestly 
impracticable.  It  is  to  apply  the  ordinary  meth- 
ods by  which  biology  attempts  to  distinguish 
the  organic  from  the  inorganic.  The  charac- 
teristics of  Life,  according  to  Physiology,  are 
four  in  number — Assimilation,  Waste,  Repro- 
duction, and  Spontaneous  Action.  If  an  or- 
ganism is  found  to  exercise  these  functions,  it 
is  said  to  be  alive.  Now  these  tests,  in  a 
spiritual  sense,  might  fairly  be  applied  to  the 
spiritual  man.  The  experiment  would  be  a 
delicate  one.  It  might  not  be  open  to  every 
one  to  attempt  it.  This  is  a  scientific  ques- 
tion ;  and  the  experiment  would  have  to  be 
conducted  under  proper  conditions  and  by 
competent  persons.  But  even  on  the  first 
statement  it  will  be  plain  to  all  who  are  famil- 
iar with  spiritual  diagnosis  that  the  experi- 
ment could  be  made,  and  especially  on  oneself, 


CL  A  SSIFICA  TION.  369 

with  some  hope  of  success.  Biological  con- 
siderations, however,  would  warn  us  not  to 
expect  too  much.  Whatever  be  the  inadequacy 
<-f  Morphology,  Physiology  can  never  be  stud- 
ixl  apart  from  it;  and  the  investigation  of 
function  merely  as  function  is  a  task  of  extreme 
difficulty.  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  affirms,  "  We 
have  next  to  no  power  of  tracing  up  the  gen- 
esis of  a  function  considered  purely  as  a  func- 
tion— no  opportunity  of  observing  the  pro- 
gressively-increasing quantities  of  a  given 
action  that  have  arisen  in  any  order  of  organ- 
isms. In  nearly  all  cases  we  are  able  only  to 
establish  the  greater  growth  of  the  part  which 
we  have  found  performs  the  action,  and  to 
infer  that  greater  action  of  the  part  has  accom- 
panied greater  growth  of  it."  1  Such  being 
the  case,  it  would  serve  no  purpose  to  indicate 
the  details  of  a  barely  possible  experiment. 
We  are  merely  showing,  at  the  moment,  that 
the  question  "  How  do  I  know  that  I  am  alive  " 
is  not,  in  the  spiritual  sphere,  incapable  of 
solution.  One  might,  nevertheless,  single  out 
some  distinctively  spiritual  function  and  ask 
himself  if  he  consciously  discharged  it.  The 
discharging  of  that  function  is,  upon  biological 
principles,  equivalent  to  being  alive,  and  there- 
fore the  subject  of  the  experiment  could  cer- 
tainly corne  to  some  conclusion  as  to  his  place 
on  a  biological  scale.  The  real  significance  of 
his  actions  on  the  moral  scale  might  be  less 
easy  to  determine,  but  he  could  at  least  tell 

1  "Principles  of  Biology,"  vol.  iL  pp.  222,  223. 
24 


370  CLASSIFICA  TION. 

where  he  stood  as  tested  by  the  standard  of 
life — he  would  know  whether  he  was  living  or 
dead.  After  all,  the  best  test  of  Life  is  just 
living.  And  living  consists,  as  we  have  for- 
merly  seen,  in  corresponding  with  Environ- 
ments. Those  therefore  who  find  within  them- 
selves, and  regularly  exercise,  the  faculties  for 
corresponding  with  the  Divine  Environment, 
anay  be  said  to  live  the  Spiritual  Life. 

That  this  Life  also,  even  in  the  embryonic 
organism,  ought  already  to  betray  itself  to 
others,  is  certainly  what  one  would  expect. 
Every  organism  has  its  own  reaction  upon 
Kature,  and  the  reaction  of  the  spiritual  or- 
ganism upon  the  community  must  be  looked 
for.  In  the  absence  of  any  such  reaction,  in 
the  absence  of  any  token  that  it  lived  for  a 
higher  purpose,  or  that  its  real  interests  were 
those  of  the  Kingdom  to  which  it  professed  to 
belong,  we  should  be  entitled  to  question  its 
being  in  that  Kingdom.  It  is  obvious  that 
•each  Kingdom  has  its  own  ends  and  interests, 
its  own  functions  to  discharge  in  Xature.  It 
is  also  a  law  that  every  organism  lives  for  its 
Kingdom.  And  man's  place  in  Xature,  or  his 
position  among  the  kingdoms,  is  to  be  decided 
by  the  characteristic  functions  habitually 
discharged  by  him.  Now  when  the  habits  of 
certain  individuals  are  closely  observed,  when 
the  total  effect  of  their  life  and  work,  with 
regard  to  the  community,  is  gauged — as  care- 
iully  observed  and  gauged  as  the  influence  of 
certain  individuals  in  a  colony  of  ants  might 
be  observed  and  gauged  by  Sir  John  Lubbock 


CLA  SS1FICA  TION.  b  V 1 

—there  ought  to  be  no  difficulty  in  deciding 
whether  they  are  living  for  the  Organic  or  for 
the  Spiritual ;  in  plainer  language,  for  thfr 
world  or  for  God.  The  question  of  Kingdoms, 
at  least,  would  be  settled  without  mistake 
The  place  of  a..y  given  individual  in  his  own 
Kingdom  is  a  different  matter.  That  is  a 
question  possibly  for  ethics.  But  from  the 
biological  standpoint,  if  a  man  is  living  for  the 
world  it  is  immaterial  how  well  he  lives  for  it. 
He  ought  \  live  well  for  it.  However  im- 
portant it  is  for  his  own  Kingdom,  it  does  not 
affect  his  biological  relation  to  the  other  King- 
dom whether  his  character  is  perfect  or  imper- 
fect. He  may  even  to  some  extent  assume  the 
outward  form  of  organism  belonging  to  the 
higher  Kingdom ;  but  so  long  as  his  reaction 
upon  the  world  is  the  reaction  of  his  species, 
he  is  to  be  classed  with  his  species,  so  long  as 
the  bent  of  his  life  is  in  the  direction  of  the 
world,  he  remains  a  worldling. 

Recent  botanical  and  entomological  researches 
have  made  Science  familiar  with  what  is 
termed  Mimicry.  Certain  organisms  in  on& 
Kingdom  assume,  for  purposes  of  their  own, 
the  outward  form  of  organisms  belonging  to 
another.  This  curious  hypocrisy  is  practised 
both  by  plants  and  animals,  the  object  being  to- 
secure  some  personal  advantage,  usually  safety,, 
which  would  be  denied  were  the  organism, 
always  to  play  its  part  in  Xature  in  propria 
persona.  Thus  the  Ceroxylus  laceratus  of  Bor- 
neo has  assumed  so  perfectly  the  disguise  of  a 
moss-covered  branch  as  to  evade  the  attack  of 


872  CLASSIFICATION. 

insectivorous  birds ;  and  others  of  the  walking, 
stick  insects  and  leaf-butterflies  practise  similar 
deceptions  with  great  effrontery  and  success, 
It  is  a  striking  result  of  the  indirect  influence 
of  Christianity,  or  of  a  spurious  Christianity, 
that  the  religious  world  has  come  to  be  popu- 
lated— how  largely  one  can  scarce  venture  to 
think — with  mimetic  species.  In  few  cases, 
probably,  is  this  a  conscious  deception.  In 
many  doubtless  it  is  induced,  as  in  Ceroxylus, 
by  the  desire  for  safety.  But  in  a  majority  of 
instances  it  is  the  natural  effect  of  the  prestige 
of  a  great  system  upon  those  who,  coveting  its 
benedictions,  yet  fail  to  understand  its  true 
nature,  or  decline  to  bear  its  profouncler  re- 
sponsibilities. It  is  here  that  the  test  of  Life 
becomes  of  supreme  importance.  No  classifi- 
cation on  the  ground  of  form  can  exclude 
mimetic  species,  or  discover  them  to  them- 
selves. But  if  man's  place  among  the  King- 
doms is  determined  by  his  functions,  a  careful 
estimate  of  his  life  in  itself  and  in  its  reaction 
upon  surrounding  lives,  ought  at  once  to 
betray  his  real  position.  Xo  matter  what  may 
be  the  moral  uprightness  of  his  life,  the  hon- 
orableness  of  his  career,  or  the  orthodoxy  of 
his  creed,  if  he  exercises  the  function  of  loving 
the  world,  that  defines  his  world — he  belongs 
to  the  Organic  Kingdom.  He  cannot  in  that 
case  belong  to  the  higher  Kingdom.  "  If  any 
man  love  the  world,  the  love  of  the  Father  is 
not  in  him."  After  all,  it  is  by  the  general 
bent  of  a  man's  life,  by  his  heart-impulses  and 
secret  desires,  his  spontaneous  actions  and 


CLASSIFICATION.  373 

abiding  motives,  that  his  generation  is  de- 
clared. 

The  exclusiveness  of  Christianity,  separation 
from  the  world,  uncompromising  allegiance  to 
the  Kingdom  of  God,  entire  surrender  of  body, 
soul,  and  spirit  to  Christ — these  are  truths 
which  rise  into  prominence  from  time  to  time, 
become  the  watchword  of  insignificant  parties, 
rouse  the  church  to  attention  and  the  world  to 
opposition,  and  die  down  ultimately  for  want 
of  lives  to  live  them.  The  few  enthusiasts 
who  distinguish  in  these  requirements  the 
essential  conditions  of  entrance  into  the  King- 
dom of  Christ  are  overpowered  by  the  weight 
of  numbers,  who  see  nothing  more  in  Christi- 
anity than  a  mild  religiousness,  and  who  de- 
mand nothing  more  in  themselves  or  in  their 
fellow-Christians  than  the  participation  in  a 
conventional  worship,  the  acceptance  of  tradi- 
tional  beliefs,  and  the  living  of  an  honest  life. 
Yet  nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  the 
enthusiasts  are  right.  Any  impartial  survey 
— such  as  the  unique  analysis  in  "  Ecce  Homo" 
— of  the  claims  of  Christ  and  of  the  nature  of 
His  society,  will  convince  any  one  who  cares 
to  make  the  inquiry  of  the  outstanding  differ- 
ence between  the  system  of  Christianity  in 
the  original  contemplation  and  its  represent- 
ations in  modern  life.  Christianity  marks 
the  advent  of  what  is  simply  a  new  Kingdom. 
Its  distinctions  from  the  Kingdom  below  it  are 
fundamental.  It  demands  from  its  members 
activities  and  responses  of  an  altogether  novel 
order.  It  is,  in  the  conception  of  its  Founder, 


374  CLASSIFICATION. 

a  Kingdom  ftfr  which  all  its  adherents  must 
henceforth  exclusively  live  and  work,  and 
which  opens  its  gates  alone  upon  those  who, 
having  counted  the  cost,  are  prepared  to  follow 
it  if  need  be  to  the  death.  The  surrender 
-Christ  demanded  was  absolute.  Every  aspi- 
rant for  membership  must  seek^rs^  the  King- 
dom of  God.  And  in  order  to  enforce  the 
demand  of  allegiance,  or  rather  with  an  uncon- 
sciousness which  contains  the  finest  evidence 
for  its  justice,  He  even  assumed  the  title  of 
King — a  claim  which  in  other  circumstances, 
and  were  these  not  the  symbols  of  a  higher 
royalty,  seems  so  strangely  foreign  to  one  who 
is  meek  and  lowly  in  heart. 

But  this  imperious  claim  of  a  Kingdom  upon 
its  members  is  not  peculiar  to  Christianity. 
It  is  the  law  in  all  departments  of  Xature  that 
•every  organism  must  live  for  its  Kingdom. 
And  in  defining  living  'for  the  higher  King- 
dom as  the  condition  of  living  in  it,  Christ 
enunciates  a  principle  which  all  Nature  has 
prepared  us  to  expect.  Every  province  has  its 
peculiar  exactions,  every  Kingdom  levies  upon 
its  subjects  the  tax  of  an  exclusive  obedience, 
•and  punishes  disloyalty  always  with  death. 
It  was  the  neglect  of  this  principle — that  every 
organism  must  live  for  its  Kingdom  if  it  is  to 
live  in  it — which  first  slowly  depopulated  the 
•spiritual  world.  The  example  of  its  Founder 
•ceased  to  find  imitators,  and  the  consecration 
of  His  early  followers  came  to  be  regarded  as 
a  superfluous  enthusiasm.  And  it  is  this  same 
misconception  of  the  fundamental  principle 


CLASSIFICATION.  375 

of  all  Kingdoms  that  has  deprived  modern 
Christianity  of  its  vitality.  The  failure  to  re- 
gard  the  exclusive  claims  of  Christ  as  m.>re- 
than  accidental,  rhetorical,  or  ideal ;  the  fail- 
ure to  discern  the  essential  difference  between 
his  Kingdom  and  all  other  systems  based  on 
the  lines  of  natural  religion,  and  therefore 
merely  Organic ;  in  a  word,  the  general  neglect 
of  the  claims  of  Christ  as  the  Founder  of  a 
new  and  higher  Kingdom — these  have  taken 
the  very  heart  from  the  religion  of  Christ  and 
left  its  evangel  without  power  to  impress  or 
bless  the  world.  Until  even  religious  men  see 
the  uniqueness  of  Christ's  society,  until  they 
acknowledge  to  the  full  extent  its  claim  to  be 
nothing  less  than  a  new  Kingdom,  they  will 
continue  the  hopeless  attempt  to  live  for  two 
Kingdoms  at  once.  And  hence  the  value  of  a 
more  explicit  Classification.  For  probably  the 
most  of  the  difficulties  of  trying  to  live  the 
Christian  life  arise  from  attempting  to  half- 
live  it. 

As  a  merely  verbal  matter,  this  identification 
of  the  Spiritual  World  with  what  are  known 
to  Science  as  Kingdoms,  necessitates  an  ex- 
planation. The  suggested  relation  of  the 
Kingdom  of  Christ  to  the  Mineral  and  Animal 
Kingdom  does  not,  of  course,  depend  upon 
the  accident  that  the  Spiritual  World  is  named 
in  the  sacred  writings  by  the  same  word. 
This  certainly  lends  an  appearance  of  fancy 
to  the  generalization :  and  one  feels  tempted 
at  first  to  dismiss  it  with  a  smile.  But,  in 
truth,  it  is  no  mere  play  on  the  word  Kingdom* 


376  CLASSIFICATION. 

Science  demands  the  classification  of  every 
organism.  And  here  is  an  organism  of  a 
unique  kind,  a  living  energetic  spirit,  a  new 
creature  which,  by  an  act  of  generation,  has 
been  begotten  of  God.  Starting  from  the  point 
that  the  spiritual  life  is  to  be  studied  bio- 
logically, we  must  at  once  proceed,  as  the  first 
step  in  the  scientific  examination  of  this  organ, 
ism,  to  enter  it  in  its  appropriate  class.  Xow 
two  Kingdoms,  at  the  present  time,  are  known 
to  Science — the  Inorganic  and  the  Organic. 
It  does  not  belong  to  the  Inorganic  Kingdom, 
because  it  lives.  It  does  not  belong  to  the 
Organic  Kingdom,  because  it  is  endowed  with 
a  kind  of  Life  infinitely  removed  from  either 
the  vegetal  or  animal.  Where  then  shall  it  be 
classed?  "We  are  left  without  an  alternative. 
There  being  no  Kingdom  known  to  Science 
which  can  contain  it,  we  must  construct  one. 
Or  rather  we  must  include  in  the  programme 
of  Science  a  Kingdom  already  constructed  but 
the  place  of  which  in  science  has  not  yet  been 
recognized.  That  Kingdom  is  the  Kingdom  of 
God. 

Taking  now  this  larger  view  of  the  content 
of  science,  we  may  leave  the  case  of  the  individ- 
ual and  pass  on  to  outline  the  scheme  of  Nature 
as  a  whole.  The  general  conception  will  be  as 
follows : — 

First,  we  find  at  the  bottom  of  everything 
the  Mineral  or  Inorganic  Kingdom.  Its  charac- 
teristics are,  first,  that  so  far  as  the  sphere 
above  it  is  concerned  it  is  dead ;  second,  that 
although  dead  it  furnishes  the  physical  basis  of 


CLASSIFICATION.  37 1 

life  to  the  Kingdom  next  in  order.  It  is  thus 
absolutely  essential  to  the  Kingdom  above  it. 
And  the  more  minutely  the  detailed  structure 
and  ordering  of  the  whole  fabric  are  invest- 
igated it  becomes  increasingly  apparent  that 
the  Inorganic  Kingdom  is  the  preparation  for, 
and  the  prophecy  of,  the  Organic. 

Second,  we  come  to  the  world  next  in  order, 
the  world  containing  plant,  and  animal,  and 
man,  the  Organic  Kingdom.  Its  characteristics 
are,  first,  that  so  far  as  the  sphere  above  it  is 
concerned  it  is  dead;  and,  second,  although 
dead  it  supplies  in  turn  the  basis  of  life  to  the 
Kingdom  next  in  order.  And  the  more  mi- 
nutely the  detailed  structure  and  ordering  of 
the  whole  fabric  are  investigated,  it  is  obvious, 
in  turn,  that  the  Organic  Kingdom  is  the  prep- 
aration for,  and  the  prophecy  of,  the  Spirit- 
ual. 

Third,  and  highest,  we  reach  the  Spiritual 
Kingdom,  or  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven.  What 
its  characteristics  are,  relatively  to  any  hypo- 
thetical higher  Kingdom,  necessarily  remain 
unknown.  That  the  Spiritual,  in  turn,  may 
be  the  preparation  for,  and  the  prophecy  of, 
something  still  higher  is  not  impossible.  But 
the  very  conception  of  a  Fourth  Kingdom  tran- 
scends us,  and  if  it  exist,  the  Spiritual  organism, 
by  the  analogy,  must  remain  at  present  wholly 
dead  to  it. 

The  warrant  for  adding  this  Third  Kingdom 
consists,  as  just  stated,  in  the  fact  that  there 
are  organisms  which  from  their  peculiar  origin, 
nature,  and  destiny  cannot  be  fitly  entered  in 


378  CLASSIFICATION. 

either  of  the  two  Kingdoms  now  known  to 
science.  The  Second  Kingdom  is  proclaimed 
by  the  advent  upon  the  stage  of  the  First,  of 
once-born  organisms.  The  Third  is  ushered 
in  by  the  appearance,  among  these  once-born, 
organisms,  of  forms  of  life  which  have  been 
born  again — twice-born  organisms.  The  classi- 
fication, therefore,  is  based,  from  the  scientific 
side  on  certain  facts  of  embryology  and  on  the 
Law  of  Biogenesis ;  and  from  the  theological 
side  on  certain  facts  of  experience  and  on  the 
doctrine  of  Regeneration.  To  those  who  hold 
either  to  Biogenesis  or  to  Regeneration,  there 
is  no  escape  from  a  Third  Kingdom.1 

There  is,  in  this  conception  of  a  high  and 
spiritual  organism  rising  out  of  the  highest 
point  of  the  Organic  Kingdom,  in  the  hypoth- 
esis of  the  Spiritual  Kingdom  itself,  a  Third 
Kingdom  following  the  Second  in  sequence  as 

Philosophical  classifications  in  this  direction  (see  for 
instance  Godet's  "Old  Testament  Studies,"  pp.  2-40), 
owing  to  their  neglect  of  the  facts  of  Biogenesis  can 
never  satisfy  the  biologist — any  more  than  the  above  will 
wholly  satisfy  the  philosopher.  Both  are  needed. 
Kothe  in  his  "  Aphorisms,  strikingly  notes  one  point : 
"  Es  ist  beach  tens  werth,  wie  in  der  Schopfung  immer  aus 
der  Auflosung  der  nachst  niederen  Stuf  e  die  nachst  hohere 
hervorgeht,  so  dass  jene  immer  das  Substrat  zur  Erzeu- 
gung  dieser  Kraft  der  schopferischen  Einwirkung  bildet. 
(Wie  es  denn  nicht  anders  sein  kann  bei  einer  Entwick- 
lung  der  Kreatur  aus  sich  selbst.)  Aus  den  zersetzten 
Elementen  erheben  sich  das  Mineral,  aus  dem  verwitter- 
ten  Material  die  Pflanze,  aus  der  verwesten  Pflanze  das 
Thier.  So  erhebt  sich  auch  aus  dem  in  die  Elemente 
zuriicksinkenden  Materiellen  Menschen  der  Geist,  das 
geistige  Geschopf."— "Stille  Stunden,"  p.  64 


CL  A  SSIFICA  TION.  379 

orderly  as  the  Second  follows  the  First,  a  King- 
dom  utilizing  the  materials  of  both  the  King- 
doms beneath  it,  continuing  their  laws,  and, 
above  all,  accounting  for  these  lower  Kingdoms 
in  a  legitimate  way  and  complementing  them 
in  the  only  known  way — there  is  in  all  this  a 
suggestion  of  the  greatest  of  modern  scientific 
doctrines,  the  Evolution  hypothesis,  too  im- 
pressive to  pass  unnoticed.  The  strength  of  the 
doctrine  of  Evolution,  at  least  in  its  broader  out- 
lines, is  now  such  that  its  verdict  on  any  biologi- 
cal question  is  a  consideration  of  moment.  And 
if  any  further  defence  is  needed  for  the  idea 
of  a  Third  Kingdom  it  may  be  found  in  the 
singular  harmony  of  the  whole  conception  with 
this  great  modern  truth.  It  might  even  be 
asked  whether  a  complete  and  consistent 
theory  of  Evolution  does  not  really  demand 
such  a  conception?  Why  should  Evolution 
stop  with  the  Organic  ?  It  is  surely  obvious 
that  the  complement  of  Evolution  is  Advolu- 
tion,  and  the  inquiry,  Whence  has  all  this 
system  of  things  come,  is,  after  all,  of  minor 
importance  compared  with  the  question, 
Whither  does  all  this  tend?  Science,  as  such, 
may  have  little  to  say  on  such  a  question. 
And  it  is  perhaps  impossible,  with  such  facul- 
ties as  we  now  possess,  to  imagine  an  Evolution 
with  a  future  as  great  as  its  past.  So  stupend- 
ous is  the  development  from  the  atom  to  the 
man  that  no  point  can  be  fixed  in  the  future  as 
distant  from  what  man  is  now  as  he  is  from  the 
atom.  But  it  has  been  given  to  Christianity  to 
disclose  the  lines  of  a  further  Evolution.  And 


380  CLA  SSIFICA  TION. 

if  Science  also  professes  to  offer  a  further  Evolu- 
tion, not  the  most  sanguine  evolutionist  will 
venture  to  contrast  it,  either  as  regards  the  dig- 
nity of  its  methods,  the  magnificence  of  its 
aims,  or  the  certainty  of  its  hopes,  with  the  pros- 
pects of  the  Spiritual  Kingdom.  That  Science 
has  a  prospect  of  some  sort  to  hold  out  to  man  is 
not  denied.  But  its  limits  are  already  marked. 
Mr.  Herbert  Spencer,  after  investigating  its 
possibilities  fully,  tells  us,  "  Evolution  has  an 
impassable  limit." l  It  is  the  distinct  claim  of 
the  third  Kingdom  that  this  limit  is  not  final. 
Christianity  opens  a  way  to  a  further  develop- 
ment— a  development  apart  from  which  the 
magnificent  past  of  Nature  has  been  in  vain, 
and  without  which  Organic  Evolution,  in  spite 
of  the  elaborateness  of  its  processes  and  the 
vastness  of  its  achievements,  is  simply  a 
stupendous  cid  de  sac.  Far  as  Nature  carries 
on  the  task,  vast  as  is  the  distance  between 
the  atom  and  the  man,  she  has  to  lay  down  her 
tools  when  the  work  is  just  begun.  Man,  her 
most  rich  and  finished  product,  marvellous  in 
his  complexity,  all  but  Divine  in  sensibility,  is 
to  the  Third  Kingdom  not  even  a  shapeless 
embryo.  The  old  chain  of  processes  must 
begin  again  on  the  higher  plane  if  there  is  t  o 
be  a  further  Evolution.  The  highest  organism 
of  the  Second  Kingdom — simple,  immobile, 
dead  as  the  inorganic  crystal,  towards  the 
sphere  above — must  be  vitalized  afresh.  Then 
from  a  mass  of  all  but  homogeneous  "pro- 

i  "First  Principles,"  p.  440, 


CLA  SSIF1CA  TION.  381 

toplasm  "  the  organism  must  pass  through  all 
the  stages  of  differentiation  and  integration, 
growing  in  perfectness  and  beauty  under 
the  unfolding  of  the  higher  Evolution,  until  it 
reaches  the  Infinite  Complexity,  the  Infinite 
Sensibility,  God.  So  the  spiritual  carries  on  the 
marvellous  process  to  which  all  lower  Nature 
ministers,  and  perfects  it  when  the  ministry  of 
lower  Nature  fails. 

This  conception  of  a  further  Evolution  carries 
with  it  the  final  answer  to  the  charge  that,  as 
regards  morality,  the  Spiritual  world  has  noth- 
ing to  offer  man  that  is  not  already  within  his 
reach.  Will  it  be  contended  that  a  perfect 
morality  is  already  within  the  reach  of  the 
natural  man?  What  product  of  the  organic 
creation  has  ever  attained  to  the  fulness  of  the 
stature  of  Him  who  is  the  Founder  and  Type 
of  the  Spiritual  Kingdom?  What  do  men 
know  of  the  qualities  enjoined  in  His  Beati- 
tudes, or  at  what  value  do  they  even  estimate 
them  ?  Proved  by  results,  it  is  surely  already 
decided  that  on  merely  natural  lines  moral 
perfection  is  unattainable.  And  even  Science 
is  beginning  to  waken  to  the  momentous  truth 
that  Man,  the  highest  product  of  the  Organic 
Kingdom,  is  a  disappointment.  But  even  were 
it  otherwise,  if  even  in  prospect  the  hopes  of 
the  Organic  Kingdom  could  be  justified,  its 
standard  of  beauty  is  not  so  high,  nor,  in  spite 
of  the  dreams  of  Evolution,  is  its  guarantee 
so  certain.  The  goal  of  the  organisms  of  the 
Spiritual  World  is  nothing  less  than  this — to 
be  "  holy  as  He  is  holy,  and  pure  as  He  is  pure." 


382  CLASSIFICATION. 

And  by  the  Law  of  Conformity  to  Type,  their 
final  perfection  is  secured.  The  inward  nature 
must  develop  out  according  to  its  Type,  until 
the  consummation  of  oneness  with  God  is 
reached. 

These  proposals  of  the  Spiritual  Kingdom  in 
the  direction  of  Evolution  are  at  least  entitled 
to  be  carefully  considered  by  Science.  Christ- 
ianity defines  the  highest  conceivable  future  for 
mankind.  It  satisfies  the  Law  of  Continuity. 
It  guarantees  the  necessary  conditions  for 
carrying  on  the  organism  successfully,  from 
stage  to  stage.  It  provides  against  the  ten- 
dency to  Degeneration.  And  finally,  instead 
of  limiting  the  yearning  hope  of  final  perfection 
to  the  organisms  of  a  future  age, — an  age  so 
remote  that  the  hope  for  thousands  of  years 
must  still  be  hopeless, — instead  of  inflicting 
this  cruelty  on  intelligences  mature  enough  to 
know  perfection  and  earnest  enough  to  wish  it, 
Christianity  puts  the  prize  within  immediate 
reach  of  man. 

This  attempt  to  incorporate  the  Spiritual 
Kingdom  in  the  scheme  of  Evolution,  may  be 
met  by  what  seems  at  first  sight  a  fatal  ob- 
jection. So  far  from  the  idea  of  a  Spiritual 
Kingdom  being  in  harmony  with  the  doctrine 
of  Evolution,  it  may  be  said  that  it  is  violently 
opposed  to  it.  It  announces  a  new  Kingdom 
starting  off  suddenly  on  a  different  plane  and 
in  direct  violation  of  the  primary  principle  of 
development.  Instead  of  carrying  the  organic 
evolution  further  on  its  own  lines,  theology  at 
a  given  point  interposes  a  sudden  and  hope- 


CLASSIFICATION.  383 

less  barrier — the  barrier  between  the  natural 
and  the  spiritual — and  insists  that  the  evolu- 
tionary process  must  begin  again  at  the  begin- 
ning. At  this  point,  in  fact,  Nature  acts  per 
*altum.  This  is  no  Evolution,  but  a  Catas- 
trophe— such  a  Catastrophe  as  must  be  fatal  to 
any  consistent  development  hypothesis. 

On  the  surface  this  objection  seems  final — 
but  it  is  only  on  the  surface.  It  arises  from 
taking  a  too  narrow  view  of  what  Evolution 
is.  It  takes  evolution  in  zoology  for  Evolu- 
tion as  a  whole.  Evolution  began,  let  us  say, 
"with  some  primeval  nebulous  mass  in  which 
lay  potentially  all  future  worlds.  Under  the 
evolutionary  hand,  the  amorphous  cloud  broke 
up,  condensed,  took  definite  shape,  and  in  the 
line  of  true  development  assumed  a  gradually 
increasing  complexity.  Finally  there  emerged 
the  cooled  and  finished  earth,  highly  differ- 
entiated, so  to  speak,  complete  and  fully 
equipped.  And  what  followed?  Let  it  be 
well  observed — a  Catastrophe.  Instead  of 
carrying  the  process  further,  the  Evolution,  if 
this  is  Evolution,  here  also  abruptly  stops.  A 
sudden  and  hopeless  barrier — the  barrier  be- 
tween the  Inorganic  and  the  Organic — inter- 
poses, and  the  process  has  to  begin  again  at 
the  beginning  with  the  creation  of  Life.  Here 
then  is  a  barrier  placed  by  Science  at  the  close 
of  the  Inorganic  similar  to  the  barrier  placed 
by  Theology  at  the  close  of  the  Organic. 
Science  has  used  every  effort  to  abolish  thig 
first  barrier,  but  there  it  still  stands  challeng- 
ing the  attention  of  the  modern  world,  and 


384  CLASSIFICATION. 

no  consistent  theory  of  Evolution  can  fail  to 
reckon  with  it.  Any  objection,  then,  to  the 
Catastrophe  introduced  by  Christianity  be- 
tween the  Natural  and  the  Spiritual  Kingdoms 
applies  with  equal  force  against  the  barrier 
which  Science  places  between  the  Inorganic 
and  the  Organic.  The  reserve  of  Life  in 
either  case  is  a  fact,  and  a  fact  of  exceptional 
significance. 

What  then  becomes  of  Evolution?  Do 
these  two  great  barriers  destroy  it  ?  By  no 
means.  But  they  make  it  necessary  to  frame 
a  larger  doctrine.  And  the  doctrine  gains  im- 
measurably by  such  an  enlargement.  For  now 
the  case  stands  thus :  Evolution,  in  harmony 
with  its  own  law  that  progress  is  from  the 
simple  to  the  complex,  begins  itself  to  pass 
towards  the  complex.  The  materialistic  Evo- 
lution, so  to  speak,  is  a  straight  line.  Making 
all  else  complex,  it  alone  remains  simple — un- 
scientifically simple.  But  as  Evolution  unfolds 
everything  else,  it  is  now  seen  to  be  itself 
slowly  unfolding.  The  straight  line  is  coming 
out  gradually  in  curves.  At  a  given  point  a 
new  force  appears  deflecting  it ;  and  at  another 
given  point  a  new  force  appears  deflecting  that. 
These  points  are  not  unrelated  points ;  these 
forces  are  not  unrelated  forces.  The  arrange- 
ment is  still  harmonious,  and  the  development 
throughout  obeys  the  evolutionary  law  in  be- 
ing from  the  general  to  the  special,  from  the 
lower  to  the  higher.  What  we  are  reaching, 
in  short,  is  nothing  less  than  the  evolution  ojf 
Evolution. 


CLA  SSIFICA  TION.  385 

Now  to  both  Science  and  Christianity,  and 
especially  to  Science,  this  enrichment  of  Evo- 
lution is  important.  And,  on  the  part  of 
Christianity,  the  contribution  to  the  system  of 
Nature  of  a  second  barrier  is  of  real  scientific 
value.  At  first  it  may  seem  merely  to  increase 
the  difficulty.  But  in  reality  it  abolishes  it. 
However  paradoxical  it  seems,  it  is  neverthe- 
less the  case  that  two  barriers  are  more  easy 
to  understand  than  one, — two  mysteries  are 
less  mysterious  than  a  single  mystery.  For 
it  requires  two  to  constitute  a  harmony.  One 
by  itself  is  a  Catastrophe.  But,  just  as  the 
recurrence  of  an  eclipse  at  different  periods 
makes  an  eclipse  no  breach  of  Continuity ;  just 
as  the  fact  that  the  astronomical  conditions 
necessary  to  cause  a  Glacial  Period  will  in  the 
remote  future  again  be  fulfilled  constitutes  the 
Great  Ice  Age  a  normal  phenomenon ;  so  the 
recurrence  of  two  periods  associated  with 
special  phenomena  of  Life,  the  second  higher, 
and  by  the  law  necessarily  higher,  is  no  viola- 
tion of  the  principle  of  Evolution.  Thus  even 
in  the  matter  of  adding  a  second  to  the  one 
barrier  of  Nature,  the  Third  Kingdom  may  al- 
ready claim  to  complement  the  Science  of  the 
Second.  The  overthrow  of  Spontaneous  Gen- 
eration has  left  a  break  in  Continuity  which 
continues  to  put  Science  to  confusion.  Alone, 
it  is  as  abnormal  and  perplexing  to  the  intellect 
as  the  first  eclipse.  But  if  the  Spiritual  King- 
dom can  supply  Science  with  a  companion-phe- 
nomenon, the  most  exceptional  thing  in  the 
scientific  sphere  falls  within  the  domain  of 
25 


386  CLASSIFICATION. 

Law.  This,  however,  is  no  more  than  might 
be  expected  from  a  Third  Kingdom.  True  to 
its  place  as  the  highest  of  the  Kingdoms,  it 
ought  to  embrace  all  that  lies  beneath  and 
give  to  the  First  and  Second  their  final  ex- 
planation. 

How  much  more  in  the  under-Kingdoms 
might  be  explained  or  illuminated  upon  this 
principle,  however  tempting  might  be  the  in- 
quiry, we  cannot  turn  aside  to  ask.  But  the 
rank  of  the  Third  Kingdom  in  the  order  of 
Evolution  implies  that  it  holds  the  key  to 
much  that  is  obscure  in  the  world  around — 
much  that,  apart  from  it,  must  always 
remain  obscure.  A  single  obvious  instance 
will  serve  to  illustrate  the  fertility  of  the 
method.  What  has  this  Kingdom  to  con- 
tribute to  Science  with  regard  to  the  problem 
of  the  origin  of  Life  itself  ?  Taking  this  as  an 
isolated  phenomenon,  neither  the  Second  King- 
dom, nor  the  Third,  apart  from  revelation,  has 
any  thing  to  pronounce.  But  when  we  observe 
the  companion-phenomenon  hi  the  higher 
Kingdom,  the  question  is  simplified.  It  will 
be  disputed  by  none  that  the  source  of  Life  in 
the  Spiritual  World  is  God.  And  as  the  same 
Law  of  Biogenesis  prevails  in  both  spheres,  we 
may  reason  from  the  higher  to  the  lower  and 
affirm  it  to  be  at  least  likely  that  the  origin  of 
life  there  has  been  the  same. 

There  remains  yet  one  other  objection  of  a 
aomewhat  different  order,  and  which  is  only 
referred  to  because  it  is  certain  to  be  raised  by 
those  who  fail  to  appreciate  the  distinctions  of 


CLASSIFICATION.  387 

Biology.  Those  whose  sympathies  are  rather 
with  Philosophy  than  with  Science  may  incline 
to  dispute  the  allocation  of  so  high  an  organism 
as  man  to  the  merely  vegetal  and  animal  King- 
dom. Recognizing  the  immense  moral  and 
intellectual  distinctions  between  him  and  even 
the  highest  animal,  they  would  introduce  a 
third  barrier  between  man  and  animal — a  bar- 
rier  even  greater  than  that  between  the  Inor- 
ganic and  the  Organic.  Now,  no  science  can 
be  blind  to  these  distinctions.  The  only  ques- 
tion is  whether  they  are  of  such  a  kind  as  to 
make  it  necessary  to  classify  man  in  a  separate 
Kingdom.  And  to  this  the  answer  of  Science 
is  in  the  negative.  Modern  Science  knows 
only  two  Kingdoms — the  Inorganic  and  the 
Organic.  A  barrier  between  man  and  animal 
there  may  be,  but  it  is  a  different  barrier  from 
that  which  separates  Inorganic  from  Organic. 
But  even  were  this  to  be  denied,  and  in  spite 
of  all  science  it  will  be  denied,  it  would  make 
no  difference  as  regards  the  general  question. 
It  would  merely  interpose  another  Kingdom 
between  the  Organic  and  the  Spiritual,  the 
other  relations  remaining  as  before.  Any  one, 
therefore,  with  a  theory  to  support  as  to  the 
exceptional  creation  of  the  Human  Race  will 
find  the  present  classification  elastic  enough 
for  his  purpose.  Philosophy,  of  course,  may 
propose  another  arrangement  of  the  Kingdoms- 
if  it  chooses.  It  is  only  contended  that  this  is 
the  order  demanded  by  Biology.  To  add 
another  Kingdom  mid-way  between  the  Or- 
ganic and  the  Spiritual,  could  that  be  justified 


388  CLASSIFICATION. 

at  any  future  time  on  scientific  grounds,  would 
be  a  mere  question  of  further  detail. 

Studies  in  Classification,  beginning  with 
considerations  of  quality,  usually  end  with 
a  reference  to  quantity.  And  though  one 
would  willingly  terminate  the  inquiry  on  the 
threshold  of  such  a  subject,  the  example  of 
Revelation  not  less  than  the  analogies  of 
Nature  press  for  at  least  a  general  statement. 

The  broad  impression  gathered  from  the  ut- 
terances of  the  Founder  of  the  Spiritual  King- 
dom is  that  the  number  of  organisms  to  be  in- 
cluded in  it  is  to  be  comparatively  small. 
The  outstanding  characteristic  of  the  new  So- 
ciety is  to  be  its  selectness.  "  Many  are  called," 
said  Christ,  "  but  few  are  chosen."  And  when 
one  recalls,  on  the  one  hand,  the  conditions  of 
membership,  and,  on  the  other,  observes  the 
lives  and  aspirations  of  average  men,  the  force 
of  the  verdict  becomes  apparent.  In  its  bear- 
ing upon  the  general  question,  such  a  conclu- 
sion is  not  without  suggestiveness.  Here 
again  is  another  evidence  of  the  radical  nature 
of  Christianity.  That  "  few  are  chosen  "  indi- 
cates a  deeper  view  of  the  relation  of  Christ's 
Kingdom  to  the  world,  and  stricter  qualifica- 
tions of  membership,  than  lie  on  the  surface  or 
are  allowed  for  in  the  ordinary  practice  of 
religion. 

The  analogy  of  Nature  upon  this  point  is 
not  less  striking — it  may  be  added,  not  less 
solemn.  It  is  an  open  secret,  to  be  read  in  a 
hundred  analogies  from  the  world  around,  that 
of  the  millions  of  possible  entrants  for  advance- 


CLASSIFICATION.  389 

ment  in  any  department  of  Nature  the  number 
ultimately  selected  for  preferment  is  small. 
Here  also  "many  are  called  and  few  are 
chosen."  The  analogies  from  the  waste  of 
seed,  of  pollen,  of  human  lives,  are  too  familiar 
to  be  quoted.  In  certain  details,  possibly, 
these  comparisons  are  inappropriate.  But 
there  are  other  analogies,  wider  and  more  just, 
which  strike  deeper  into  the  system  of  Nature. 
A  comprehensive  view  of  the  whole  field  of 
Nature  discloses  the  fact  that  the  circle  of  the 
chosen  slowly  contracts  as  we  rise  in  the  scale 
of  being.  Some  mineral,  but  not  all,  becomes 
vegetable ;  some  vegetable,  but  not  all,  becomes 
animal;  some  animal,  but  not  all,  becomes 
human,  some  human,  but  not  all,  becomes 
Divine.  Thus  the  area  narrows.  At  the  base 
is  the  mineral,  most  broad  and  simple ;  the 
spiritual  at  the  apex,  smallest,  but  most  highly 
differentiated.  So  form  rises  above  form,  King- 
dom above  Kingdom.  Quantity  decreases  as 
quality  increases. 

The  gravitation  of  the  whole  system  of 
Nature  towards  quality  is  surely  a  phenomenon 
of  commanding  interest.  And  if  among  the 
more  recent  revelations  of  Nature  there  is  one 
thing  more  significant  for  Religion  than  an- 
other, it  is  the  majestic  spectacle  of  the  rise  of 
Kingdoms  towards  scarcer  yet  nobler  forms, 
and  simpler  yet  diviner  ends.  Of  the  early 
stage,  the  first  development  of  the  earth  from 
the  nebulous  matrix  of  space,  Science  speaks 
with  reserve.  The  second,  the  evolution  of 
each  individual  from  the  simple  protoplasmic 


390  CLASSIFICATION. 

cell  to  the  formed  adult,  is  proved.  The  still 
wider  evolution,  not  of  solitary  individuals, 
but  of  all  the  individuals  within  each  province 
— in  the  vegetal  world  from  the  unicellular 
cryptogam  to  the  highest  phanerogam,  in  the 
animal  world  from  the  amorphous  amoeba  to 
Man — is  at  least  suspected,  the  gradual  rise  of 
types  being  at  all  events  a  fact.  But  now,  at 
last,  we  see  the  Kingdoms  themselves  evolving. 
And  that  supreme  law  which  has  guarded  the 
development  from  simple  to  complex  in  matter, 
in  individual,  in  sub-Kingdom,  and  in  Kingdom, 
until  only  two  or  three  great  Kingdoms  re- 
main, now  begin  at  the  beginning  again,  direct- 
ing the  evolution  of  these  million-peopled  worlds 
as  if  they  were  *  simple  cells  or  organisms. 
Thus,  what  applies  to  the  individual  applies  to 
the  family,  what  applies  to  the  family  applies 
to  the  Kingdom,  what  applies  to  the  Kingdom 
applies  to  the  Kingdoms.  And  so,  out  of  the 
infinite  complexity  there  rises  an  infinite  sim- 
plicity, the  foreshadowing  of  a  final  unity,  of 
that 

"  One  God,  one  law,  one  element, 

And  one  far-off  divine  event, 
To  which  the  whole  creation  moves."  l 

This  is  the  final  triumph  of  Continuity,  the 
beart  secret  of  Creation,  the  unspoken  pro- 
phecy of  Christianity.  To  Science,  defining  it 
as  a  working  principle,  this  mighty  process  of 
amelioration  is  simply  Involution.  To  Christi- 
anity, discerning  the  end  through  the  means, 

i**In  Memoriam." 


CLA  SSIFICA  TION.  391 

it  is  Redemption.  These  silent  and  patient 
processes,  elaborating,  eliminating,  developing 
all  from  the  first  of  time,  conducting  the  evolu- 
tion from  millennium  to  millennium  with  un- 
altering  purpose  and  unfaltering  power,  are  the 
early  stages  in  the  redemptive  work — the  un- 
seen approach  of  that  Kingdom  whose  strange 
mark  is  that  it  "  cometh  without  observation." 
And  these  Kingdoms  rising  tier  above  tier  in 
ever  increasing  sublimity  and  beauty,  their 
foundations  visibly  fixed  in  the  past,  their  pro- 
gress, and  the  direction  of  their  progress,  being 
facts  in  Nature  still,  are  the  signs  which,  since 
the  Magi  saw  His  star  in  the  East,  have  never 
been  wanting  from  the  firmament  of  truth,  and 
which  in  every  age  with  growing  clearness  to 
the  wise,  and  with  ever-gathering  mystery  to 
the  uninitiated,  proclaim  that  "the  Kingdom 
of  God  is  at  hand." 

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